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A CONGLOMERATE 



HARVEY H. DAUGHERTY 



With a Sketch of the 
Author's Life 



PRINTED PRIVATELY FOR 

THE AUTHOR 






Copyright 1912 
By HARVEY H. DAUGHERTY 



/ 



©C(.A328524 



TO ELOISE 



AUTHOR'S NOTE 

Four years ago I published, at my own expense, a 
small edition of "The Young Lawyer and Another Es- 
say," with the view of distributing the volumes among 
my professional and other friends as souvenirs. After 
the distribution had been made I discovered, very much 
to my chagrin, that the edition was too small for the 
purpose contemplated. The small edition of this book, 
now published, in like manner, will enable me to begin 
where I left off and I think the number will be sufficient. 

Since the publication of "The Young Law3^er and 
Another Essay" I have been frequently urged, both oral- 
ly and in writing, to place the book upon the market 
and thus give it a wider circulation. I have not done so. 

We live in a capitalistic age. Wealth is taken as the 
almost universal standard, and, in some degree, is re- 
garded as the measure of public capacity. I am a man 
of my time; I love money; but have long since been 
convinced that when commerciality is the sole or prin- 
cipal incentive to authorship, the production is marred, 
especially when viewed from an esthetic or purely literary 
standpoint. 

H. H. D. 

October, 1912. 



CONTENTS 



some observations in respect to happiness and its 
opposite 

Chapter. Page. 

I. Introductory 1 

II. Love 15 

III. Marriage 30 

IV. Conversation 39 
V. Town and Country 50 

VI. Constant Employment 62 

VII. Pleasures of the Table 68 

VIII. Literary Pursuits 77 

IX. Accumulation 95 

X. Reflection 109 

XI. Home 115 

XII. Travel 118 

XIII. Solitude 121 

XIV. Borrowing Trouble 132 
Devotion the Highest Height of Love 143 
Plagiarism — Originality 151 
Society and Conventionalism 155 
Review of "The Reminiscences" of Goldwin Smith 161 
The Obsolescence of Sectionalism 206 
Mexico — Taft and Diaz at El Paso — Unique Court- 
ship and Marriage — Cortes, Like Dewey, a Vic- 
tim of Ingratitude — Mexican Maiden with Her 
Guitar Sitting with Her Lover in the Orange 
Grove — Maximilian and the Beautiful Carlotta 213 

Reconstruction — The 14th of September at New 
Orleans 229 



CONTENTS 

Page. 
Reminiscences of the Seventies — Alaska — Hen- 
dricks, Voorhees and Rise-Up-William Allen at 
Democratic Rally 240 

Wise and Beneficent Laws — Class Legislation — 
Protection — Election of United States Senators 
by the People — Capital and Labor 245 

Peace and War — Grotius — Peace Conference at 
the Hague — Laying a Wreath of Silver and 
Gold Upon the Tomb of Grotius by the Amer- 
ican Delegation 263 
Religion and Politics 268 
William M. Evarts 272 
Blaise Pascal 276 
Autobiographies — Reminiscences of Eminent Pub- 
lic Men — Estimates of Their Character and 
Ability by Their Contemporaries 283 

JOURNAL 

Page. 

Defence of Drunkenness 317 

President Taft 317 

Fondness for Amusements 318 

Senator Vest on the Dog 318 

Bigelow's Dedication 321 

Alliteration 321 

Moderation 322 

Political Joint Debates 323 

William Pitt Fessenden 324 

The Latest Novel 325 

The Signal for Parting 325 

Dramatic Oratory ' 326 

The Agility of Big Men 329 

"War Is Desirable" 329 

Apothegms 330 



CONTENTS 

Page. 

Garibaldi's Supreme Command of the Union Army 332 
Ridicule 335 
Northern Revolution — Southern Rebellion — The Per- 
petuity of the Republic 337 
Democratic Maladies 340 
Physicians and Medicine 341 
Fidelity to Principle 345 
The Standard of Respectability and Character 345 
The Ideal Southern Gentleman 348 
The Power and Responsibility of the Judiciary 346 
The Origin of Cards 349 
The Tolling of the Dinner Bell 350 
Burke — His Sympathy with the American Colonies 350 
John G. Carlisle 352 
Henry Clay on the Abolition of Slavery 353 
Prosperity and Adversity 355 
Sketch of Author's Life 359 



Everything has already been written. As men have 
lived and thought for more than seven thousand years, 
we have been born too late. — La Bruyere. 

A pleasure that I enjoy alone affects me but slightly, 
and is of short duration. It is for my friends as well 
as myself that I read, that I reflect, that I write, that 
I meditate, that I listen, that I look, that I feel. * * * 
If I am struck with a beautiful line they must know it. 
If I meet with a fine passage, I promise myself to im- 
part it to them. * * * I have consecrated to them 
the use of all my senses and faculties. — Diderot. 

1 perceive, methinks, in the writings of the ancients, 
that he who speaks what he thinks strikes much more 
home than he that only dissembles. * * * I have de- 
voted this book to the use of my relations and friends; 
so that, when they had lost me, they could here find 
some traits of my qualities and humor, and thereby 
might foster, in a more perfect and lively way, what re- 
membrance they had of me. * * * j-(^ jg foj. iy^q qqj.. 
ner of a library, or to entertain a neighbor, a kinsman, 
or a friend that has a mind to renew his acquaintance 
and familiarity with me in this my picture. — Montaigne. 

I was soon disgusted with the modest practice of 
reading the manuscript to my friends. Of such friends, 
some will praise from politeness, and some will criti- 
cize from vanity. The author himself is the best judge 
of his own performance ; no one has so deeply meditated 
on the subject; no one is so sincerely interested in the 
event, — Gibbon. 



A CONGLOMERATE 



SOME OBSERVATIONS UST RESPECT TO HAP- 
PINESS AND ITS OPPOSITE. 

CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The problem of perennial happiness is one the solu- 
tion of which mnst be relegated to another and higher 
world ; for it seems to have been foreordained that while 
on this terrestrial sphere we must alternately chew the 
cud of sweet and bitter fancies. As to the bitter, it 
may be said, that while we cannot kill the wasp we 
may at least soften the venom of its sting. We recall 
the self-evident assertion of Hobbs that there is no such 
thing as perpetual tranquillity of mind while we live 
here, because life itself is but motion, and can never be 
without desire, nor without fear, no more than without 
sense. 

The mark at which we all aim is happiness. The 
sacredness and universality of the right to do so is em- 
phasized in our immortal Declaration of Independence. 

1 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

It is believed that the nearest approach to true hap- 
piness is found midway between the extremes of unre- 
strained gaiety and melancholy discomfort, but this in- 
equality of moods is almost inevitable where there is a 
large preponderance of sensibility. 

Eeading, observation, and reflection have taught us 
many things : our happiness will always be found within 
a narrow compass, and amidst the objects more imme- 
diately within our reach. That all happiness dwells 
more in the hope than in the possession. That enjoy- 
ments to be adequately prized must be of rare occur- 
rence; as no one can set a proper value on pleasures 
which he tastes CTcry day. To recognize the propriety 
and necessity of friends but, if you wish to be happy, to 
have no superfluous ties. Mr. Lincoln, though of the 
most kindly and generous nature, was slow to acquire 
intimacies, and had few close friendships. That love 
is absolutely essential to happiness; this fact is fully 
recognized by a great English dramatist and novelist 
who declared, "Some persons, I know, estimate happi- 
ness by flne houses, gardens and parks — others by pic- 
tures, horses, money and various things wholly remote 
from their own species; but when I wish to ascertain 
the real felicity of any rational man, I always inquire 
whom he has to love. If I find he has nobody, or does 
not love those he has— even in the midst of all his pro- 
fusion of finery and grandeur— I pronounce him a being 
deep in adversity." 

That conversation, especially of the loud and de- 
monstrative variety, is not a prerequisite to happiness. 
There is happiness in a Quakers' meeting where the 

2 



INTRODUCTORY 

silence is so deep that the unsheathing of a stiletto may 
be heard amidst its hush. Let Charles Lamb in one 
of the inimitable essays of Elia portray it: "Wouldst 
thou know what true peace and quiet mean; wouldst 
thou find a refuge from the noises and clamors of the 
multitude; wouldst thou enjoy at once solitude and so- 
ciety; wouldst thou possess the depth of thine own 
spirit in stillness, without being shut out from the con- 
solatory faces of thy species ; wouldst thou be alone, and 
yet accompanied; solitary, yet not desolate; singular, 
yet not without some to keep thee in countenance; a 
unit in aggregate ; a simple in composite : Come with me 
into a Quakers' meeting. * * * There are wounds 
which an imperfect solitude cannot heal. By imper- 
fect I mean that which a man enjoyeth by himself. The 
perfect is that which he can sometimes attain in 
crowds, but nowhere so absolutely as in a Quakers' 
meeting." 

That there is no more healthy state of mind than one 
which is as nearly as possible independent of human 
opinion, where one is neither elated by its attention nor 
soured by its neglect. 

That there is nothing more unpleasant than to have 
your little weaknesses known. 

That nothing contributes more to one's happiness 
than a change of condition, occupation and environ- 
ment. So universal is this desire for change that Pas- 
cal was led to remark, "That if an artisan could imagine 
for twelve hours that he was a king, he would be almost 
as happy as a king who for twelve hours imagined him- 
self an artisan." 

3 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

We have also learned that the observation of Thack- 
eray is true when he says that the world is a looking 
glass, and gives back to every one the reflection of his 
own face. Frown at it, and it will in turn look sourly 
upon you; laugh at it and with it and it is a jolly kind 
companion. 

That an honest and heroic effort to eliminate from 
our lives, as far as possible, all worry and loss of tem- 
per is conducive to happiness. Ambassador White, in 
one of his walks with Count Von Bulow, alluded to a 
hot debate of the day before and to his suavity under 

provocation, when he answered: "Old many 

years ago, gave me two counsels, and I have always tried 
to mind them. These were *^Never worry; never lose 
your temper.' " 

That no applause which ever reaches human ears is 
more grateful than that which emanates from old friends 
and neighbors. 

That genuine friendship is impracticable between men 
and women, young or old. The woman either loves, is 
indifferent, or hates. 

That the only real platonic love is that between 
brother and sister. Gibbon refers to this relation as 
"a familiar and tender friendship with a female about 
our own age ; an affection perhaps softened by the secret 
influence of sex, but pure from any mix-ture of sensual 
desire." He declares that this is the sole species of 
platonic love that can be indulged with truth and with- 
out danger. 

An observation of Goethe is confirmed by the experi- 
4 



INTEODUCTOEY 

ence of mankind. He affirms that all comfort in life 
is based upon a regular recurrence of external things. 
"The change of day and night, of the seasons, of flowers 
and fruits, and whatever else meets us from epoch to 
epoch; so that we can and should enjoy it — those are 
the proper springs of earthly life. The more open we 
are to those enjoyments, the happier do we feel our- 
selves; but if the changes in those phenomena roll up 
and down before us without our taking interest in them, 
if we are insensible to such beautiful offers, then comes 
on the greatest evil, the heaviest disease : we regard life 
as a disgusting burden." He cites the case of an English- 
man who hanged himself that he might no longer dress 
and undress himself every day. 

It must be accepted as true that all men, with rare 
exceptions, have their splenetic hours. 

The question has been asked, what is happiness? 
Does it soothe, or does it excite; We use the word in its 
broad generic sense as applicable to every kind of en- 
joyment. Happiness is both elusive and delusive. An 
author of great ability and varied acquirements calls 
her the great mistress of the ceremonies in the dance 
of life. "That she impels us through all its mazes and 
meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route. 
Aristippus pursued her in pleasure, Socrates in wisdom, 
and Epicurus in both; she received the attentions of 
each, but bestowed her endearments on neither, although, 
like some other gallants, they all boasted of more favors 
than they had received. Warned by their failure, the stoic 
adopted a most paradoxical mode of preferring his suit; 

5 



A CONGLOMERATE 

he thought, by slandering, to woo her; by shunning, to 
win her ; and proudly presumed that, by fleeing her, she 
would turn and follow him. 

"She is deceitful as the calm that precedes the hurri- 
cane, smooth as the waters on the verge of a cataract, 
and beautiful as the rainbow, that smiling daughter of 
the storm: but like the mirage in the desert, she tan- 
talizes us with a delusion that distance creates and con- 
tiguity destroys. Yet, when unsought, she is often found, 
and, when unexpected, often obtained; while those who 
seek for her the most diligently fail the most, because 
they seek her where she is not. Anthony sought her 
in love; Brutus in glory; Caesar in dominion; the first 
found disgrace, the second disgust, the last ingratitude, 
and each destruction. * * * Neither is she to be won 
by flattery or by bribes; she is to be gained by waging 
war against her enemies, much sooner than by paying 
any particular court to herself. Those that conquer her 
adversaries will find that they need not go to her, for 
she will come unto them. * * * What detains her? 
She is traveling incognito to keep a private assignation 
with contentment, and to partake of a tete-a-tete and a 
dinner of herbs in a cottage." 

There are brief periods of supreme happiness in the 
life of nearly every individual. John Bigelow, the em- 
inent publicist and diplomatist who, at the age of ninety- 
four, recently started on a prolonged European tour, 
accompanied by his two granddaughters, declares that 
he was made supremely happy by his acquisition of a 
knowledge of the principles of homeopathy. 

A verdict of not guilty when the defendant is charged 
() 



INTRODUCTORY 

with a capital offense is received by him with unalloyed 
satisfaction. 

When Gibbon casually attended the great trial of 
Warren Hastings, not having yet attained the acme of 
his fame, he was charmed by Sheridan's eloquence — and 
was stirred with the most pleasurable emotion when the 
great orator paid him a personal compliment in the 
presence of the British nation, by using the phrase: 
"The correct periods of Tacitus, and the luminous pages 
of Gibbon." 

What pen can adequately describe the delight of 
B3rron when he awoke one morning and found himself 
famous? Indeed, it has been said that authorial happi- 
ness is more exquisitely delightful than any other — and 
that an author intoxicated with success will hug his 
porter if there is nobody else on hand. 

The accepted lover, especially after a long and arduous 
wooing, is in a condition of unmixed bliss — a happiness 
so radiant that it shines from his eyes, and is written 
at large upon his forehead. 

One of the principal causes of discomfort is our habit 
of drawing drafts on the misery of futurity — melan- 
choly usually flies to the future for its ailment. It was 
indeed a valuable suggestion made by an eminent mao 
that one should interest himself chiefly in the progress 
of his journey, and not look forward to its end with 
eagerness. He asks "How am I to enjoy this year as 
I ought, if I am continually wishing it over?" 

Another, who had a great mastery of the laws of hu- 
man happiness, had an excellent rule for the happiness 
and wisdom of life as to the future, not to look too far 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

into it for inevitable though probably distant disaster. 
"Take short views of life, hope for the best, and trust 
in God." He once gave a lady two and twenty receipts 
against melancholy: one was a bright fire; another, to 
remember all the pleasant things said to and of her; 
another, to keep a box of sugar plums on the chimney 
piece, and a kettle simmering on the hob. 

We are here reminded of these lines from Newman's 
hymn: 

"I do not ask to see 
The distant scene; one step enough for me." 

We think it is incumbent upon each and every one 
of us to get the best of everything out of each stage of 
our life, "to gather all of its leaves in spring, all of 
its flowers in summer, all its fruits in autumn.'' 

Cheerfulness is a matter which depends fully as much 
on the state of things within as on the state of things 
about and around us; and inner sunshine warms not 
only the heart of the owner but all who come in contact 
with it. Goldsmith's traveler seated on a crag in the 
Alps, in solemn meditation, reviews his long pilgrimage, 
recalls the varieties of scenery, of climate, of govern- 
ment, of religion, of national character, and arrives to 
the just conclusion "That human happiness depends lit- 
tle on political institutions, and much on the temper 
and regulation of our own minds." We have read of one 
who, by reason of the application of this truth, was very 
happy with some garden flowers, half a dozen pictures, 
and a few books. He declared that he lived without 
envy without fear and without desire. Izaak Walton, 



INTEODUCTORY 

author of the "Complete Angler," lived to the advanced 
age of ninety years and, adopting this principle, the last 
forty years of his life was a period of the utmost tran- 
quillity and peace. 

Another example is that of John Wesley, who, in 1790, 
said that he did not remember to have felt lowness of 
spirits for a quarter of an hour since he was born. It 
was said of the Duke of Wellington that the general char- 
acter of his last years was rather that of the old age of 
a great man idealized. "To the unbroken splendors of 
his military career, to his honorable and conscientious 
labors as a parliamentary statesman, life unusually pro- 
longed added an evening of impressive beauty and 
calm." His delight lay within his own soul. 

It was the opinion of Marcus Aurelius that "the nearer 
character attains to immunity from passion, the greater 
is its power. That anger is as weak as grief. Both 
mean that we have been wounded and have succumbed." 

Many do not consider that our well-being depends so 
largely upon the temper and regulation of our minds. 
But we must accept as true the declaration of a man of 
large observation and deep reflection, that no bodily 
comforts which could be devised by the skill and labor 
of a hundred generations would give happiness to a man 
whose mind was under the tyranny of licentious appetite, 
of envy, of hatred or of fear. 

As to what constitutes happiness depends to some ex- 
tent upon the age, temperament, disposition and en- 
vironment, of each particular individual — though there 
are many sources of happiness common to us all. Some 
seek happiness, or at least tranquillity, in the peaceful 

9 



A CONGLOMERATE 

shades of the cloister, the deprivations endured being 
in a measure compensated for by the consolation of re- 
ligion ; some in recondite studies, some in general literary 
pursuits. In ancient times the knight derived exquisite 
delight in sighing away his soul in moonlight serenades 
under the balcony of the empress of his affections. Some 
have an excessive fondness for the sports of the field — 
oftentimes resulting in a strenuous idleness which dis- 
dains all useful occupations. There are others, unfor- 
tunately not the majority, the chief part of whose happi- 
ness consists in self-sacrifice, in the exercise of the benev- 
olent affections, and in giving and receiving sincere tes- 
timonies of regard. Others, like Alexander the Great and 
Voltaire, deemed no occupation so noble and delightful 
as that of making ingrates. To the young nothing is more 
delicious than those illusions to which lovers are pro- 
verbially subject during the season of courtship. Many 
have derived great pleasure in following the suggestion 
of Goethe, that a man ought, every day, to read a fine 
book, see a noble picture and look at a beautiful person. 
There are men whose eyes always light up at the sight 
of a pretty woman, even of such as merely pass by, 
never more to be seen of them again. 

Ambassador White recalls with much satisfaction the 
period of his early life when he became educated into the 
great truth that stores, shops, hotels, facilities for travel 
and traSic are not the highest things in civilization. 

A man who has done a good stroke of business is 
happy, and this feeling of satisfaction is sometimes in- 
dicated by a smug expression about the mouth. 

It has been said that in wicked Paris the highest 
10 



INTEODUCTOEY 

degree of self-satisfaction eTer registered by a human 
countenance, is that of the bachelor emerging from a 
boudoir in the best of humors with himself. 

Balzac asserts that a man only lives by some personal 
gratification. "That the passionless, perfectly righteous 
man is not human; he is a monster, an angel wanting 
wings." And he asks "Who dares to bid farewell to an 
old habit? Many a man on the brink of suicide has 
been plucked back on the threshold of death by the 
thought of the cafe where he plays the mighty game of 
dominoes." 

Camille Desmouline's eternal and only receipt for 
universal happiness was "entire freedom of action and 
speech." 

We all know the ineffable pleasure experienced by a 
writer or a speaker when he first sees himself in print. 

There will be general acquiescence in the truth of the 
observation of Goethe made in his preface to "Wilhelm 
Meister," when he declares that, "There are loftier emo- 
tions, which afford us a contentment which is in vain 
to seek in the amusements of the world; and, in these 
higher jo3^s, there is also kept a secret treasure for 
strengthening in misfortune." 

In woman, the love of becoming ornament is not only 
pardonable but commendable, and cannot justly be re- 
garded in the light of vanity. We all know that the 
choice and arrangement of dress bestows an added 
charm to her fascinations. To be perfectly charming, 
however, she must be happy. It has been said that hap- 
piness is the poetry of woman, as the toilet is her tinsel. 

Women intensely enjoy the company and conversa- 
11 



A CONGLOMERATE 

tion of each other. No man can know, with absolute 
certainty, the subjects which they consider and discuss, 
but dame rumor is responsible for the intimation that 
the questions of feminine attire, their own complaints, 
and the merits and excellencies of their favorite physi- 
cians and ministers, are not, as a rule, completely ig- 
nored. 

A brilliant but malevolent writer, with a gravity al- 
most amounting to solemnity, declares that "at the age 
of forty a woman, especially if she has tasted the 
poisoned apple of passion, is aware of a solemn dread: 
she perceives that two deaths await her — that of the 
body and that of the heart; and that all alike after 
that terrible date in life, are aware of an acute pain." 
This can only be regarded as a gross exaggeration. A 
perfect panacea for all such troubles would be a love 
letter and a beautiful new gown, in consonance with the 
principle, long since established, that these two things — 
pretty dresses and love letters — create woman a second 
time. 

Much satisfaction and tranquillity of mind result from 
the cultivation of a feeling of self-reliance and inde- 
pendence. We have been deeply impressed with the 
observation of Goethe: "For a time we may grow up 
under the protection of parents and relatives; we may 
lean for a while on our brothers and sisters and friends, 
be supported by acquaintances, and made happy by 
those we love; but in the end, man is always driven 
back upon himself. * * * Early enough, and by 
many a hard lesson, had I learned that, at the most 
urgent crisis, the call to us is Thysician, heal thyself,' 

12 



INTRODUCTORY 

and how frequently had I been compelled to sigh out 
in pain ^I tread the wine press alone V " 

It has been said that in youth, melancholy is the 
twilight of dawn, in age the dusk of night. "In youth, 
one is admirably adapted to give and receive happiness ; 
and it is the peculiar felicity of this period of life that 
the most unpleasing objects and events seldom make a 
deep or lasting impression; it forgets the past, enjoys 
the present, and anticipates the future/^ 

It is probable that no two persons will agree as to 
what constitutes the ideal happy man. It is the opinion 
of one that a life alternately devoted to action, reflec- 
tion and literature is idealistic. Another declares that 
an ideal life is one compounded of work and meditation, 
of solitude and society. It was remarked of the late 
Senator Morrill of Vermont that he was full of good 
cheer and sunshine, full of hope for the future, full of 
pleasant memories of the past. To him life was made up 
of cheerful yesterdays and confident to-morrows. The 
life of Fontenelle, the celebrated French author, is, in 
our opinion, very far from being ideal, but it is certainly 
unique and interesting. He died in 1757, having attained 
the age of one hundred years. He studied law but 
abandoned the profession on losing his first case. As 
a writer he was distinguished for his amazing versatility 
and also for the charm of his conversation. His last 
words when dying were "I do not suffer, my friends; 
but I feel a sort of difficulty in living." His character 
and eccentricities have been vividly portrayed by Sainte 
Beuve: "He had never wept; he had never been in 
a rage; he had never run; and as he never acted from 

13 



A CONGLOMERATE 

motives of sentiment, he never received impressions 
from other men. * * * He had never interrupted 
any one; he would listen to his interlocutor to the very 
end, without losing anything; he was never in a hurry 
to speak ; and if you had brought any accusation against 
him, he would have listened the whole day to your im- 
peachments without uttering a single word. * * * 
*He who wishes to be happy/ he observed, '^reduces and 
confines himself as much as possible.' He has these two 
characteristics: he seldom changes his habitation, and 
does not care in particular for any habitation. When 
he took possession of any new quarters, he let the 
things remain as he found them; he would never have 
thought of either removing or adding a single nail." 

The happiness of the individuals composing a nation 
is the happiness of the nation. In the last century a 
celebrated Englishman referred to the United States 
as a magnificent spectacle of human happiness; and, 
about the same time, a distinguished Frenchman who 
had devoted several years to the study of our institutions 
and people, declared that he found in the United States 
that restlessness of heart which is natural to man, when 
all ranks are nearly equal and the chances of elevation 
are the same to all. 

While it is true that our country has experienced the 
extreme vicissitudes of the highest happiness and the 
direst affliction, it will be conceded, we think, that upon 
the whole, no nation surpasses us in individual and na- 
tional prosperity and happiness. 



14 



CHAPTER II. 



LOVE. 



In considering and presenting the subject of human 
happiness and its opposite, we shall not ignore that great 
comedy which is the prologue of every married life. We 
shall not be deterred from its consideration by any ap- 
prehension of ridicule on the part of rude and un- 
cultivated persons, should this volume, perchance, fall 
into their hands. The love of the sexes is, in fact, the 
foundation of all human happiness ; and, of all ties that 
bind one human being to another, it is the closest and 
the strongest. It comes to us from God and does not 
depend upon ourselves to kindle it in our own bosoms. 
It of course varies in intensity in different individuals — 
the highest degree of affection being illustrated by that 
of the love bird which is indigenous to Africa and South 
America. If a pair of these little birds have been kept 
together in captivity, neither can long survive the loss 
of its partner. 

The great anatomists of the human heart have, from 
time to time, attempted to define or describe this passion 
of love; one declares that it is the income of beauty, and 
he who seeks beauty without expressing love, withholds 
its income in a manner that cries out for vengeance. 

15 



A CONGLOMERATE 

Another defines love to be the consciousness of happiness 
given and received, and the certainty of giving and get- 
ting it. Another asks the question, what do you call 
loving, and answers, "Always thinking of a person — 
always seeking her society." 

The historian Gibbon, in approaching the delicate 
subject of his own early love, defines this passion as the 
union of desire, friendship and tenderness, which is 
infl-uenced by a single female, which prefers her to the 
rest of her sex and which seeks her possession as the 
supreme or sole happiness of our being. Another de- 
clares, that when the mind, the heart, and the senses 
all have their share in the rapture which transports us — 
ah! then there is no falling to earth, rather it is to 
heaven we soar; still another avers that when two love 
each other so well that every day seems for them the 
first day of their love, such vital happiness has a mar- 
velous power of transforming the whole conditions of 
life. 

Goethe observes that the first propensities to love in 
an uncorrupted youth take altogether a spiritual direc- 
tion. Nature seems to desire that one sex may by the 
senses perceive goodness and beauty in the other. He 
adds: "Thus to me by the sight of this girl (Bettina), 
by my strong inclination for her — a new world of the 
beautiful and the excellent had arisen." He subsequently 
declares that "It was not until many years afterward, 
nay until after her death, that I learned of her secret, 
heavenly love, in a manner that necessarily over- 
whelmed me." 

16 



LOVE 

It has been said that a woman^s greatest charm con- 
sists in a constant appeal to man's generosity, in a grace- 
ful admission of helplessness, which stimulates his 
pride, and awakens his noblest feelings; and that love 
in her "is the most unlimited confidence, joined to a 
craving to reverence and adore the being to whom she 
belongs." 

A celebrated woman declares that of all mysteries in 
life, love is the least mysterious. "That it exhales from 
woman like a perfume, and that she who can conceal it 
is a very monster. Our eyes prattle even more than 
our tongues." So much as to the nature, definition 
and description of love as viewed, not only by novelists^ 
but by the profound thinkers of our own and former 
times. 

Hahnemann, the celebrated German physician, and 
the author and originator of homeopathy as a distinctive 
system of medicine, taught that disease is to be regarded 
as consisting essentially of the symptoms of it as ex- 
perienced and expressed by the patient, or as detected 
by the physicians; in other words, that the chief symp- 
toms, or the "totality of the symptoms" constitute the 
disease. May not the same principle be applicable to 
this strange and bewitching malady of the human heart, 
called love? Would it be possible for any of the great 
analysts who have essayed to define this malady to give 
a better definition than this — "the totality of the S3rnip- 
toms.'* To the symptoms then our attention must be 
given. 

The memorable colloquy between Eosalind and Or- 
17 



A CONGLOMERATE 

lando, in the Forest of Arden, renders comparatively 
easy the solution of the question "when is a man in 
love." 

"Rosalind — My uncle taught me how to know a man 
in love; in which cage of rushes I am sure you are not 
prisoner. 

"Orlando — What were his marks? 

"Rosalind^A lean cheek, which you have not ; a blue 
eye and sunken, which you have not; an unquestionable 
spirit, which you have not; a beard neglected, which 
you have not; but I pardon you for that, for simply 
you having no beard is a younger brother's revenue; 
then your hose should be ungartered, your bonnet un- 
handed, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, and 
everything about you demonstrating a careless desola- 
tion ; but you are no such man ; you are rather point — 
devise in your accoutrements, as loving yourself than 
seeming the lover of another." 

It has been said that when a girl dimly divines the 
presence of love in the world she smiles as she smiled in 
her babyhood, when she saw the light for the first time ; 
that the dawning of love in her is as faint as the first 
light of the morning, and that this first illusion is "the 
subtlest of feelings, the heart's daintiest morsel." Nov- 
elists have exhausted their vocabularies in their efforts 
to portray the ineffable loveliness of a 3^oung girl, gath- 
ering the first roses of an unspoken declaration. The 
blind mother of the beautiful girl discovered the secret 
of her daughter's budding passion. "Listen, my 
friends," said the blind woman, "my daughter is in 
love. I feel it; I see it. A strange change has come 

18 



LOVE 

over her, and I cannot think how you have failed to 
observe it. * * * For the last two months she has 
dressed herself with care as if she were going to meet 
some one. She has become excessively particular about 
her shoes; she wants her feet to look nice. * * * 
Some days the poor child sits gloomy and watchful, as 
if she expected somebody. * * * Her cheerfulness 
betrays itself in the tones of her voice, accents which I 
can detect and account for. In short, she is happy. 
There is a tone of thanksgiving even in the ideas she 
utters. * * * Though I am blind my affection is 
clairvoyant."^ 

The animation which love puts into a young life is 
marvelous, and there certainly is no more becoming cos- 
metic. It is said that the eyes of a lover are not his 
own, but you may rest assured that he makes good use 
of them; and it has been observed that none but lovers 
and diplomatists know all that the flash of the eye can 
convey of information or delight. The remarks of a 
lover, as a rule, are not characterized by profundity, and, 
indeed, it has been intimated, that his words are some- 
times utterly void of common sense — but his eloquent 
looks more than compensate for these deficiencies. Il- 
lustrative of the power of the eye, is the proud boast of 
a fascinating woman that a single glance from her made 
the boldest youth drop his eyes. When the eyes of two 
lovers fall at once and meet again — this circumstance 
portends much happiness for both. A lover's mournful 
farewell glance at his lady-love's window tells the whole 
story. When a woman is afraid to look at her inter- 

^ Balzac. 

19 



A CONGLOMERATE 

locutor but suddenly becomes interested in some article 
of furniture in her boudoir, she then and there makes an 
unconscious avowal. The most commonplace phrases 
when uttered with a faltering voice become truly elo-- 
quent. It is said that when a young girl sings her 
lover is not far away. We shall say nothing of the sig- 
nificance of the conduct of a young lady who carries a 
letter in her bosom for a whole day — postpones reading 
it till an hour when everybody is asleep — till midnight. 

True love is oftentimes enshrouded in the mystery of 
bashfulness — distrust of himself — "the shyness of a man 
to whom no woman has ever said 'I love you.' " 

To feign indifference, when she feels it not, is one 
of the tricks peculiar to feminine beauty — and marked 
avoidance of her lover does not always imply indiffer- 
ence. 

There are those who have the power to cover all in- 
ward ebullition with outward calm, especially the soli- 
tary, because it is the nature of solitude to make the 
passions calm on the surface — agitated in the depths. 
The face may sometimes wear an inscrutable mask con- 
cealing the most vehement emotions — there may be 
an ecstasy in the depths of the heart which the face 
never betrays. These instances, however, are excep- 
tional. We have read of a charming young woman 
whose cheerfulness and calmness were exter-nally appar- 
ent, but who failed to conceal two symptoms of a tender 
heart; she breathed deeply from time to time and a 
transient red passed over her face. 

It has been said of Rousseau that he preached the 
gospel of happiness in love as earnestly as the saints 

20 



LOVE 

preach the gospel of happiness in religion. We adhere, 
however, to the opinion expressed in the first paragraph 
of this book that, while on this terrestrial sphere, we 
must alternately chew the cud of sweet and bitter fan- 
cies. Lovers are no exception to the rule. 

Love is a more exacting master than marriage, and, 
like despair, it sometimes catches at straws. These dis- 
eases of the heart require the balm of sympathy and 
affection. There are instances, however, which neither 
require nor deserve commiseration. For example, the 
woman who exclaimed "What a pity it is that we can 
not live on love as we live on fruit, and that when we 
have had our fill, nothing should survive but the re- 
membrance of pleasure;" and another, who declared 
that "she had never seen a man whom she could not 
love, and hoped to heaven she never might." 

The success or failure of a lover is oftentimes de- 
termined by what would seem to be the most trivial cir- 
cumstance ; a pair of trousers turned out by a celebrated 
tailor is said to have made a most suitable and ad- 
vantageous match ; and a splash staining the polish of a 
boot has been known to bring a young man to discom- 
fiture. 

A woman declares : "We are fit only to love. Men have 
a thousand different ways of spending their energy; all 
we can do is to dream, and pray, and worship. But 
it must not be forgotten that there have been many ex- 
hibitions of feminine perversity. To avoid looking at 
her lover, apparently oblivious of his presence, and to 
sit with folded hands seemingly lost in deep meditation 
— this is absolutely maddening to him. To answer in 

21 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

brief negatives is far from being reassuring to a lover's 
uneasy mind. When asked what's the matter and she 
replies "Nothing," the lover is dismayed, and anticipates 
the most serious consequences. She sometimes picks a 
little quarrel with him, making a mountain out of a 
mole-hill. Women have been known to absolutely snub 
their admirers, by speaking to them with a slight, scorn- 
ful inclination of the head. We have read of a gentle- 
man who was exceedingly popular with the ladies of his 
acquaintance — his popularity being due to the fact that 
one of their contemporaries had died of a broken heart 
for him. What perversity! 

Young men are likewise sometimes amenable to the 
charge of perversity — perhaps they might prefer to call 
it diplomacy. They sit thinking long and patiently over 
the problem of the strategy of love. The lover will fire 
the fancy of his darling by a certain reticence, which 
stirs in her such chords of curiosity as she did not know 
existed in her. On another occasion he will display all 
of his powers of attraction, but at the same time affect 
indifference, seem to disdain her, and so goad her 
vanity. 

Jealousy, as we know, is a prolific cause of perturba- 
tion between lovers; and one of the insoluble mysteries 
of it all is that the more jealous they are, the more 
jealous they want to be. Its existence is never difficult 
to discern, but it often has for its foundation a mere 
figment of the imagination. When the question is asked 
"Can you swear to me that you are nothing, and never 
will be anything, to another woman," we all know what's 
the matter. 

22 



LOVE 

A reconciliation, following an estrangement between 
lovers, is of course a cause of mutual delight and satis- 
faction; and in lovers^ quarrels it has been noted that 
the party that loves the most is always most willing to 
acknowledge the greater fault. These great agitations 
of soul have been compared to storms that purify the 
atmosphere ; "they give tone and bring counsel of strong 
and generous resolve." A reconciliation is always pos- 
sible. The darkest hour of the night is the one im- 
mediately preceding the break of day; and it has been 
observed, truly, we believe, that two hearts are never 
nearer to a mutual understanding than when they have 
agreed to the necessity of an eternal parting. 

Environment has much to do with the happy culmina- 
tion of a courtship. How many hearts have been made 
supremely happy in moonlight promenades, the moon 
shining softly through the foliage of the forest, espe- 
cially at the season when summer is fading into au- 
tumn and the moonlight nights are long? The harvest 
moon, rising as it does at nearly the same hour for sev- 
eral days and being near its full, if it could speak, would, 
no doubt, add incalculable interest to the literature of 
the heart. After a prolonged and arduous wooing cov- 
ering a period of many months, or even years, with the 
result still somewhat in doubt, it might be well to sug- 
gest riding double on horseback. The situation is said to 
be most conducive to the revivifying of confidence and 
affection, and a favorable answer might thus be ob- 
tained. 

It is well known that no place is more propitious for 
courtship than on board a vessel for a long cruise. The 

23 



A CONGLOMERATE 

passengers have ample leisure and there is an absolute 
necessity for killing the time — and it might be said 
that there is almost an enforced association. The court- 
ship and marriage of Warren Hastings and the Baroness 
Imhoff furnish a unique and intensely interesting illus- 
tration. We also find here a singular blending of ro- 
mance and business. On account of the illustrious char- 
acter of the participants in this affair of the heart, we 
feel sure that we will be pardoned for going somewhat 
into detail. 

Warren Hastings was the first governor-general of 
British India. He sprang from an ancient and illus- 
trious race. It has been affirmed that his pedigree can 
be traced back to the great Danish sea-kings, whose 
sails were long the terror of both coasts of the British 
channel.^ The historian of the period declares that 
Hastings looked like a great man, and not like a bad 
man. In his case the body was wholly subjugated to 
the mind. His frame, naturally slight, had been further 
attenuated by rigorous habits of temperance and thus 
rendered proof against thei diseases of the tropics. 
Against his private character not even calumny has 
breathed a reproach. A classical education and the in- 
stincts of family pride saved him from both the greed 
and the vulgar display which marked the typical "na- 
bob,'' the self-made man of those days. He could sup- 
port the position of governor-general and of a country 
gentleman with equal credit.^ An unfriendly critic con- 
cedes that he always had the full command of all of the 
resources of one of the most fertile minds that ever 

^ Macaulay. ^ Cotton. 

24 



LOVE 

existed, and denslared that he could not regard with- 
out admiration "the amplitude and fertility of his in- 
tellect — his rare talents for command, for administra- 
tion, and for controversy — his dauntless courage — his 
honorable poverty — his fervent zeal for the interest of 
the state — his noble equanimity, tried by both extremes 
of fortune, and never disturbed by either." 

His was a stormy and tempestuous career. He died 
well — an additional proof of his greatness. His death 
occurred August 22, 1819, in the eighty-sixth year of 
his age, and it is affirmed that he met it with the same 
tranquil and decorous fortitude which he had opposed 
to all the trials of his varied and eventful life. 

In the spring of 1769 Hastings embarked on board 
the "Duke of Grafton'^ for India. His voyage was dis- 
tinguished by incidents which might furnish matter for 
a novel. 

Among the passengers in the "Duke of Grafton," says 
Macaulay, was a German baron by the name of Imhoff. 
The baron was accompanied by his wife, a native, we 
have somewhere read, of Archangel. This young woman, 
who, born under the Arctic circle, was destined to play 
the part of a queen under the tropic of Cancer, had an 
agreeable person, a cultivated mind, and manners in the 
highest degree engaging. * * * She was interested 
by the conversation and flattered by the attentions of 
Hastings. The situation was indeed perilous. No place 
is so propitious to the formation either of close friend- 
ships or of deadly enmities as an Indiaman. * * * 
Most passengers find some resource in eating twice as 
many meals as on land. But the great devices for kill- 

25 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

ing the time are quarreling and flirting. * * * Under 
such circumstances met Warren Hastings and the Bar- 
oness Imhoff ; two persons whose accomplishments would 
have attracted notice in any court of Europe. The gen- 
tleman had no domestic ties. The lady was tied to a 
husband for whom she had no regard. An attachment 
sprang up, which was soon strengthened by events such 
as could hardly have occurred on land. Hastings fell 
ill. The baroness nursed him with womanly tenderness, 
gave him his medicines with her own hand, and even 
sat up in his cabin while he slept. Long before the 
"Duke of Grafton" reached Madras, Hastings was in 
love. But his love was of the most characteristic de- 
scription. Like his hatred, like his ambition, like all 
his passions, it was strong but not impetuous. It was 
calm, deep, earnest, patient of delay, unconquerable by 
time. Imhoff was called into council by his wife and 
his wife's lover. It was arranged that the baroness 
should institute a suit for divorce in the courts of Fran- 
conia, and during the time which might elapse before 
the sentence could be pronounced, they should continue 
to live together. It was also agreed that Hastings should 
bestow some very substantial mark of gratitude on the 
complaisant husband; and should, when the marriage 
was dissolved, make the lady his wife, and adopt the 
children whom she had already borne to Imhoff. 

In accordance with their plans they were subsequently 
married. It is said that he loved his wife with that 
love which is peculiar to men of strong minds — to men 
whose affection is not easily won or widely diffused. That 
liis letters to her were tender, and full of indications of 

26 



LOVE 

esteem and confidence; but at the same time, a little 
more ceremonious than is usual in so intimate a rela- 
tion.* 

This extraordinary attachment demonstrates very 
clearly that weak and silly men and weak and silly wom- 
en are not the only ones who become infatuated with the 
opposite sex. A man may be loved on account of his 
superior intellectual attainments, and it has been beau- 
tifully and truly said that the worship of talent is one 
of the rarest vagaries that ever beat its wings in a wom- 
an's soul. It has even been affirmed that a man may be 
loved independently of his person — handsome or ugl}^ 
and for his soul alone. A fascinating woman, some- 
what given to coquetry, declared : "I am convinced now 
that I could never torment or flirt with a fool or make 
any impression on him. It is only men of real distinc- 
tion who can enter into our feelings and feel our in- 
fluence." 

It is a grave error to assume that young ladies are so 
absolutely foolish as to be pleased with no other conver- 
sation than that of extravagant compliment; and many 
a cause has been lost when the suitor became too demon- 
strative, and declared his love with wild bursts of enthu- 
siasm. It has been said that a Pole is generally weak in 
the presence of women for the reason that he is so full of 
tenderness that he becomes her inferior. 

It has been affirmed that absence endangers none but 
weak attachments. We think this broad statement must 
be accepted with some qualifications. The absence must 
not be too prolonged. Genuine affection can withstand 

* Macaulay. 

27 



A COISTGLOMEEATE 

"very severe storms of rigor but not a long polar frost 
of downright indiiference." It has been suggested that 
lovers when widely separated should think of each other 
tenderly at the same hour each day — and thus prevent 
the waning of their affection. 

We do not wish to be placed on record as approving 
any kind of fraud or dissimulation — not even in the 
delicate affairs of the heart ; but we were greatly amused 
and entertained, not to say impressed, by an incident of 
which we have read. Two lovers were separated by more 
than a thousand miles. The young lady discovered, or 
thought she had, a growing coolness on the part of he! 
lover. What did she do ? When she had finished writing 
her letter she let fall from her finger-tips a few drops 
of water upon the stationery. Her lover, opening the let- 
ter very naturally concluded that those were the tears 
she shed for him. What did he do ? He hurried back to 
her as on the wings of the wind. He could not endure 
the thought of remaining away a moment longer from 
his dear one. The result was that the rekindled flame in 
his bosom burned more intensely than ever. It was no 
longer necessary for either to repeat the line from the 
charming poem of Bishop Heber, 

"If thou, my love, wert by my side." 

It has been asserted, truly, no doubt, that indiscreet 
utterances at partings exceed in number those made at 
all other times; and it is no less true that a look or a 
word may sunder two lovers forever. "In the eyes of a 
woman," says a profound student of the human heart, 

28 



LOVE 

"the man to whom she is indifferent is always more or 
less ugly ; but the man whom she has ceased to love is a 
monster." 

What is not of colloquial acquisition is learned by 
reading, observation and reflection, and from these 
sources we become possessed of many axiomatic truths. 
We know that the aloofness of the love of a suitor has 
oftentimes proved disastrous, but that he should never 
permit himself to droop beneath the frown of a capri- 
cious beauty. We know that persistency may accomplish 
marvels, and it should not be forgotten that the fairest 
apple hangs on the highest bough. We know that the 
young gentleman who is "to one thing constant never" 
is deservedly an egregious failure, and that promiscuity 
in attachments invariably leads to trouble and disaster. 
We know that parents sometimes prefer that their 
daughter should marry "an average man," with solid 
virtues and sound morals; and that the daughter, while 
not wishing to ignore those homely qualities, is im- 
pressed by a lover "whose eye melts in love and kindles 
in war — one whose voice is sweetest and noblest when 
honor is his theme — one whose soul is mirrored in his 
countenance — especially if sorrow has given him an in- 
teresting look — for, be it said, that she is always the 
friend of desolate hearts. She would never tire of in- 
quiring if sorrow had his young days faded." 

We conclude with the words of Goethe : 

"The first love, it is rightly said is the only one; for 
in the second, and by the second, the highest sense of 
love is already lost. * * * p^g^ attachments seem 
like specters of the night, which glide away before the 
break of day." 

29 



CHAPTEE III. 

MARRIAGE. 

We wish at the outset to put the seal of our reproba- 
tion upon the declaration of a malevolent person that 
marriage is the end of man. It is no part of our purpose 
to discuss, at length, marriage in its purely legal aspects ; 
but a few observations along this line may not be deemed 
inappropriate. We do not care to inquire whether mar- 
riage is merely a contract or more than a contract, 
whether a purely civil or a religious act. It may be 
stated, however, that while marriage is generally spoken 
of by lawyers as a contract, its complete isolation from 
all other contracts is invariably recognized. As to the 
validity of a marriage it has been well settled that the 
lex loci governs. If the marriage is valid by the laws of 
the country where it was celebrated it is recognized as 
valid everywhere. "This rule," says Story, "has received 
the most deliberate sanction of the English and Amer- 
ican courts and of foreign jurists." There are, however, 
a few exceptions to this general rule which we will not 
stop to consider. 

Under the old Eoman law, concubinage was recog- 
nized under certain restrictions as an inferior form of 
union ; but this has all but disappeared from modern so- 

30 



MAEEIAGE 

ciety. The morganatic or left-handed marriage, that is, 
the union between a man of superior and a woman of 
inferior rank is the nearest approach ever made by con- 
cubinage to true marriage. These marriages were in 
vogue among the royal families in Germany and per- 
haps elsewhere. The children were deemed legitimate, 
but neither they nor the wife acquired any right to the 
rank or fortune of the husband. We have, in theory at 
least, no stratification of society in this country, and 
happily such marriages are unknown. 

The man who declared that nine-tenths of those who 
have raved in rapturous stanzas about the sweets of con- 
jugal love are bachelors shivering in solitary garrets, de- 
serves commiseration on account of his morbidity. La 
Bruyere, the eminent Frenchman, never married. "A 
single man,^^ he observed, ^'^can, if he has wit, raise him- 
self above his station, and mix in the world on a footing 
of equality ; which is less easy if he be married, for mar- 
riage seems to settle people into their proper rank." 
There may have been some force in this reason, in his 
own country and in his own time, but in this age and 
generation, it would be universally regarded as puerile. 
The truth is, that the family is the enduring basis of 
all organized society. We need only to refer to Holy 
Writ : "Who so findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and 
obtaineth favor of the Lord." 

Again: "A virtuous woman is a crown to her hus- 
band. * * * Her children arise up and call her 
blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her. * * * 
Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the 
daj^s of thy life." 

31 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

That marriage is in some sense a lottery will not be 
denied. The bride and her mother fully understand the 
conditions and dangers of this lottery — all women do — 
and sometimes they shed tears as they look on at a mar- 
riage. The men smile, thinking they risk nothing. 
Thexe are so many considerations involved in marriage 
as, for example, consonance of tempers, physical symp^i- 
thies and concord of character. If the bride has 9 for- 
tune, great or small, her husband may dissipate it; be- 
cause, when a young wife has given her heart she very 
rarely refuses her purse. A woman may be much above 
the level of those about her and she is driven to the ne- 
cessity of deciding between the emptiness of the men 
whom she meets, and the emptiness of her own life ; and 
the emptiness of her suitor is oftentimes concealed by 
his agreeable manners. 

It was said of a young husband who turned out to be 
bad, that during his courtship "not a syllable over- 
stepped the pure regions of sentiment. The blue of the 
forget-me-not and the white of the lily are not more 
pure than were his flowers of rhetoric." We believe the 
observation to be true that while there are a few general 
rules for mitigating the worries of married life, there 
are none to enable one to guess or foresee them. 

The causes of domestic discord are countless, and it 
would, therefore, be idle to attempt to name them all. 
Every woman is not in love with her husband and of 
course this fact portends trouble; the friction produced 
by incessant intimacy is another prolific cause of domes- 
tic infelicity. It is said that nothing evaporates more 
quickly than conjugal affection; and, when love is ex- 

32 



MAREIAGE 

tinct, only indifference or contempt ever fills its place. 
A woman who takes as much trouble every day to make 
herself as beautiful for her husband as other women do 
for society will^ as a rule, retain his love. We will let 
the charming young wife who resorted to this expedient 
speak for herself, in her own words: "I get up in the 
early dawn, while he is still sleeping, and without dis- 
turbing him, pass into the dressing-room, where, profit- 
ing by my mother's experience, I remove the traces of 
sleep by bathing in cold water. For during sleep the 
skin, being less active, does not perform its functions 
adequately; it becomes warm and covered with a sort of 
mist or atmosphere of sticky matter, visible to the eye. 
From a sponge bath a woman issues forth ten years 
younger, and this, perhaps, is the interpretation of the 
mjth of Venus rising from the sea. So the cold water 
restores to me the saucy charm of dawn, and, having 
combed and scented my hair and made a most fastidious 
toilet, I am ready to give my husband a cordial welcome 
to breakfast. When he appears and observes my fresh- 
ness, buoyancy and vivacity — looking as dainty as a 
spring morning — his love and tenderness for me are 
mirrored in every lineament of his countenance."^ 

Sometimes a woman imagines that if she can marry 
a great celebrity she will be supremely happy but she 
will soon discover that a man, however superior, is but 
a man like all others. 

There is no doubt that the love of a husband and wife 
depends less on outward beauty than on graces of char- 
acter. The wife may exercise a marvelous influence over 

* Balzac. 

33 



A CONGLOMERATE 

her husband but it ought to be entirely concealed, as the 
charm of all a woman does lies in its unobtrusiveness. 
A husband who submits to a public and ostentatious ex- 
ercise of authority by a wife is justly held an object of 
ridicule; and society would not tolerate, for a moment, 
a public exhibition of the wife's power over her husband. 

All experience proves that marriage cannot rest alone 
upon passion as its foundation; and, indeed, the insta- 
bility of passion is regarded as a cogent reason for mak- 
ing marriages indissoluble. It has been said, truly, we 
believe, that a family cannot live on the tempests of 
love, and that when two beings have nothing but senti- 
ment to go through life on, they soon exhaust its re- 
sources, and ere long satiety and disgust ensue. 

The selection of a wife is so entirely a personal matter 
that it would seem obtrusive and presumptuous to make 
any suggestions on the subject. It has been said, how- 
ever, that "many men, when thinking of marriage, pre- 
fer a girl taken straight from the convent impregnated 
with an atmosphere of devotion to one who has been 
trained in the school of society. On the one hand is the 
girl who has nothing left to learn, who reads and dis- 
cusses the papers, who has spun round ball-rooms in the 
arms of countless young men, who has seen every play 
and devoured every novel, who does not trouble her head 
about religion and has evolved her o^vn morality. On 
the other hand is the guileless simple girl." 

It certainly is not an ideal marriage where the most 
the wife can say of her husband is, that there is nothing 
in him which offends her ; it is where her love for him is 
of the kind which makes the heart throb, at the sound 

34 



MAERIAGE 

of a step, when she is thrilled at the lightest tones of his 
voice, or the caress of a burning glance, that conjugal 
felicity is supreme. 

This oneness of husband and wife is marvelous. The 
devoted wife is not content with wedding a man's heart, 
she must also share his thoughts. It has been said^ that 
when a man is adored by his wife, she can read his face 
like a book, she knows the slightest quiver of his mus- 
cles, she divines the reason when he is calm, she ques- 
tions herself when he is the least sad, wondering if she 
is in fault, she watches his eyes; to her those eyes are 
colored by his ruling thought — they love or they love not. 

An eminent writer discussing the subject of marriage 
declares that "perfect happiness is only to be found at 
either extreme of the intellectual scale; there is a like 
equability of temperament in the good-natured idiot and 
in the man of genius, arising in the one case from weak- 
ness, and in the other from strength of character. Both 
are capable of a constant sweetness of temper, which 
softens the roughnesses of life. Both natures are simple 
and transparent; the one because of its shallowness, the 
other by reason of its depth. Clever women, therefore, 
are sufficiently ready to take a dunce as the best substi- 
tute for a man of genius." On account of his eminence 
as a writer and his profundity as a thinker, it is with 
great diffidence that we express grave doubts of the cor- 
rectness of his conclusion. It certainly is not in har- 
mony with the view of Mrs. Thomas Carlyle who im- 
plored a young woman not to marry a genius, saying: 
"I married one and am miserable." 

2 Balzac. 

35 



A CONGLOMERATE 

An incalculable amount of happiness is found in mar- 
ried life, but of course there are many exceptional cases. 
Many historical characters are supposed to have their 
matrimonial wrongs strongly established. Such was Job 
with his wife, and Socrates with Xanthippe, and Rich- 
ard Hooker rocking the cradle, and John Wesley hav- 
ing his whiskers pulled. 

A happy wife has affirmed that, "Not to her dearest 
friend, not to her mother, not, perhaps even to herself, 
can a bride speak of her happiness. This memory ought 
to remain absolutely our own, an added rapture — a 
thing beyond words, too sacred for disclosure." 

As a rule the novelist of the period is singularly dere- 
lict in duty. His work is incomplete; he is a quitter. 
The story usually ends with the solemnization of the 
marriage and the regular expression for a bride, "pale 
and shrinking.'^ Why does he not pursue the subject fur- 
ther and depict the gradual, gentle, but delightful transi- 
tion from the rapture of courtship to the placid joys of 
wedded life? Why should he completely ignore the his- 
tory of a happy household which has been compared to 
that of a prosperous state? Why should he not dilate, 
with the utmost minuteness of detail, upon the quiet and 
faithful intercourse of home where the man always 
finds a woman at his side ? Why not reveal to the reader 
the family in all its strength and holiness, and depict the 
delightful calm, the intimacy, the sharing alike of good 
and evil, the glory of the home? He might discant, in 
elegant and fascinating language, upon the peaceful and 
gracious life of the domestic hearth. He might furnish 
an ample illustration of the truth that it is both the 

36 



MAEEIAGE 

destiny and glory of woman to cling to a man. If he 
wished concrete examples, drawn from the pages of his- 
tory, he might recite the poignant regret of Beethoven 
as he approached the end of life — that he had never 
married, and was in consequence deprived of that feel- 
ing of home and comfort which only the unceasing care 
of refined womanhood can bestow. He might refer to 
the venerable and distinguished John Bigelow, diplo- 
matist and statesman, who at the age of ninety-four, 
has just returned from a long European tour — and re- 
cite the dedication of his great work recently published, 
^^Eetrospections of an Active Life": "^'To Jane Poult- 
ney Bigelow, my wife, and mother of my children, these 
volumes are gratefully dedicated." He might expatiate 
upon the exquisite beauty of this dedication, suggesting, 
as it does, all the loves and tendernesses of the home 
and domestic life — conjugal, paternal, maternal, fra- 
ternal, filial — a glorious combination, indeed! He 
might demonstrate that absolute perfection in woman is 
unattainable without the softening influence of mater- 
nity. He might give emphasis to the fact that the only 
consolation to woman for the loss of beauty are dear and 
loving children. It would be within his power to excite 
the tenderest emotions by depicting such scenes as a 
child resting on its mother's arm, or a mother sitting 
like a queen, in the midst of her children ; and he might 
contrast the situation with that of the woman president 
of a federation of clubs who, amid sobs and tears, is en- 
deavoring to decide an intricate question of parliamen- 
tary law in the midst of a tumultuous and hysterical as- 
sembly. As a grand climax he might recount how an 

37 



A CONGLOMERATE 

aged couple had for fifty years tasted the soft endear- 
ments of marriage, without ever experiencing its bitter- 
ness; and enjoyed unimpaired health, the fruit of tem- 
perance and tranquillity of mind. 



38 



CHAPTER IV. 



CONVERSATION. 



Much of what we know is of colloquial acquisition. 
Something may be learned from nearly every one we 
meet, and we should not be over fastidious as to the man- 
ner of the talker, or the subject-matter of his conversa- 
tion. Montaigne declares that ^^the study of books is a 
languishing and feeble notion that heats not; but if I 
converse with a man of mind, and no flincher, who 
presses hard upon me, and digs at me right and left, his 
imagination raises up mine, it stimulates me to some- 
thing above myself.'^ Of course, there is but little infor- 
mation to be gained or benefit derived from mere chat- 
ting, or idle and familiar talk ; and there are those whose 
conversation is both charming and instructive in a tete-a- 
tete, but who are absolutely dumb in a salon or general 
conversation. It has been said that he who speaks sows 
and he who listens reaps in colloquy, and it behooves us, 
therefore, to cultivate the difficult art of becoming good 
listeners. They are indeed very rare; it requires concen- 
tration of mind, and high moral and intellectual quali- 
ties. It has been observed that the hypocrisy of the 
hearer is not difficult to detect — that the eye refuses 
to dissemble — that by its "dull vacant stare, its intro- 

39 



A CONGLOMERATE 

spective look, or its restless wandering from place to 
place it will betray the hypocritical hearer in spite of 
every attempt at deception." The suggestion of Sir 
Mathew Hale is admirable: In conversation, learn as 
near as you can, where the skill or excellence of any per- 
son lies; put him upon talking on that subject, observe 
what he says, keep it in your memory or commit it to 
writing. 

The power of conversation is marvelous. It is said that 
Chamfort's extraordinary influence upon French society 
was exercised wholly in conversation, in sallies of wit, 
in those sparkling sayings "which make one laugh and 
think at the same time."^ 

It needs tact to know when to be silent and when to 
speak; but it is true of conversation as of many other 
things, that the half is better than the whole. The Dutch 
in the Spice Islands recognized this fact when they de- 
stroyed one-half of the timber in order to make the other 
half more valuable. 

To excel in conversation, says Hazlett, one must not 
be always striving to say good things; to say one good 
thing, one must say mxany bad, and more indifferent 
ones; and he declares that he would rather have water 
than nectar for a steady drink — ^bread and butter than 
ambrosia for his daily bread. 

It is difficult to say what makes a conversationalist. 
It has been remarked that there are people who possess 
every qualification for conversing except the power to 
converse — that there are two absolutely essential things : 
in the first place a certain charm of mind, and even 

^ Mathews. 

40 



CONVEESATION 

manner, which is a purely instinctive gift; and in the 
second place real sympathy with, real interest in, the 
person with whom you converse. A mere dribbling into 
words of casual thoughts is not conversation ; to be profit- 
able, it must be regarded as a definite mental occupation 
and, to make social intercourse of value, of course there 
must be an opportunity for perfect relaxation. 

Intense strenuousness in other pursuits is the deadly 
enemy of profitable colloquy ; it would be a waste of time 
to attempt to carry on a conversation with one who de- 
clares "I am so tired^' or, "I cannot wait for my dessert 
to-day, I am so busy." We have known school teachers 
and others who have gravitated into this condition of de- 
moralization ; in fact, we are all more or less subject to it 
unless we make an extraordinary effort to restrain it. It 
has been asserted that the one thing which distinguishes 
the truly great, either by birth or mental acquirements, 
is repose; and an eminent author has affirmed that he 
could recognize the leading men of any community by 
their slower walk and more abstracted expression of 
countenance. 

Herbert Spencer confessed that such powers as he 
possessed in the direction of conversation were of the 
tete-a-tete order; and it was his opinion that to be a 
salon talker requires a certain self-possession, a kind of 
grasp of the different individuals that surround you 
which he declared to be of the nature of Napoleonic 
strategy. When conversation became tedious to him, 
he simply put stoppers in his ears to blur the sense of 
the talk. He declared that nothing worried him more 
than what he was pleased to call "this surface cackle" 

41 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

that has to be indulged in in general society, simply to 
fill the time. 

In considering this subject it would be invidious and 
inappropriate to completely ignore the views of the an- 
cients, even though we may not give them our unquali- 
fied approval. Epictetus enjoins that we "should be for 
the most part silent, or speak merely what is necessary, 
and in few words. * * * We may not enter into dis- 
course on any of the common subjects of gladiators, or 
horse races, or athletic champions, or feasts, the vulgar 
topics of conversation. * * * If you happen to be 
taken among strangers, be silent. * * * Let not your 
laughter be much nor on many occasions, nor profuse." 

We all know that the cultivation of the voice is of 
transcendent importance in singing. The voice is no 
less an important factor in giving charm and interest 
to public speaking and conversation. Madame Eoland 
did not exaggerate when she declared that the voice is 
the key which unlocks the heart. The lawyers and 
statesmen of Colonial Virginia were celebrated for their 
forensic eloquence and power; at no period and in no 
country, was the art of oratory cultivated with greater 
assiduity, and the voice was always regarded as a prime 
consideration. The historian of the period referring to 
Patrick Henry declared, that in mild persuasion his 
voice was as soft and gentle as the zephyr- of spring ; 
while in rousing his countrymen to arms, the winter 
storm that roars along the troubled Baltic. was not more 
awfully sublime. Of Edmund Pendleton it was said 
that he had that silver voice of which Cicero makes such 
frequent and honorable mention — an articulation uncom- 

42 



CONVEESATION 

monly distinct — a perennial stream of transparent, cool 
and sweet elocution. Eeferring to Eichard Henry Lee 
the historian affirms that the note of Lee^s voice was 
deeper and more melodious than that of Mr. Pendleton. 
It was the canorous voice of Cicero. * * * His speech 
was so copious,, so rich, so mellifluous, set off with such 
bewitching cadence of voice, and such captivating grace 
of diction, that while you listened to him, you desired 
to hear nothing superior, and indeed thought him per- 
fect. I have in mind a lady who, even in relating the 
most unimportant incident, is charming, largely on ac- 
count of the seductive softness and sweetness of her 
voice. Indeed, we can conceive of no more fascinating 
feminine accomplishment than the ability to converse 
entertainingly. Of course, originality of both thought 
and manner adds to the charm of conversation as does 
brilliant repartee. We have read of a fascinating con- 
versationalist of whom it was said: His thrilling voice, 
which lent an added charm to thoughts, in themselves 
so exquisite, reminded one of the nightingale's note. 
* * * Words flowed upon words with the rush of the 
torrent. It was the overflow of the heart. The boy, the 
fair-haired boy, the blue-eyed boy of fifteen, the son of 
highly cultivated and refined parents, whose demeanor 
inspired in every one a wish to know him — would have 
been less fascinating but for the fact that his voice was 
as clear as crystal and seemed to have an emotional 
quality. 

Young gentlemen should lose no time in cultivating 
their colloquial powers. A charming and very popular 
young southern girl of eighteen summers, remarked: 

43 



A CONGLOMERATE 

"Mr. Daugherty, I like the boys very well but the trouble 
is so many of them have not the art of conversation." 

The fascination of a certain lady's conversation was 
attributed to the fact that what she said seemed to be a 
continuation of what was said to her. 

How perfectly delightful it must have been to listen 
to the brilliant and scintillating conversation of John 
Randolph of Roanoke, or the wise and polished utter- 
ances of Sir James Mackintosh. Randolph was for 
more than thirty years the political meteor of congress. 
He was not only a profound and brilliant statesman, 
but a gentleman of incomparable literary taste. Speak- 
ing of Randolph, Colonel Benton says : "The last time 
I saw him, after his return from the Russian mission, 
I heard him read the chapter in the Revelations (of the 
opening of the seals) with such power and beauty of 
voice and delivery, and such depth of pathos, that I felt 
as if I had never heard the chapter read before. When 
he had got to the opening of the sixth seal, he stopped 
the reading, laid the book (open at the place) on his 
breast, as he lay on his bed, and began a discourse upon 
the beauty and sublimity of the scriptural writings, 
compared to which he considered all human composi- 
tions vain and empty. Going over the images presented 
by the opening of the seals, he averred that their divin- 
ity was in their sublimity — that no human -power could 
take the same images, and inspire the same awe and 
terror, and sink ourselves into such nothingness in the 
presence of the "wrath of the lamb" — that he wanted 
no proof of their divine origin but the sublime feelings 
which they inspired." 

44 



CONVERSATION 

Eandolph possessed a wealth of "copious wit and 
classical allusion." Colonel Benton heard many bril- 
liant talks from him. On such occasions, "a flow for 
hours (at one time seven hours)" of copious wit and 
classical allusion — a perfect scattering of the diamonds 
of the mind." "I heard a friend remark on one of these 
occasions," says Colonel Benton, "he has wasted intel- 
lectual jewelry enough here this evening to equip many 
speakers for great orations." 

Sir James Mackintosh, publicist, historian, states- 
man and philosopher, died in 1832. He was one of the 
most cultured and catholic-minded men of his time; 
and it was said of him that even at a very early age 
he bore the reputation of a prodigy for multifarious 
reading and learning. With his other accomplishments. 
Sir James was a charming conversationalist. Macaulay 
affirms that his mind was "a vast magazine, admirably 
arranged; everything was there and everything was in 
its place." Eobert Hall declares that his mind "was a 
spacious repository hung round with beautiful images, 
and when he wanted one he had nothing to do but reach 
his hand to a peg and take it down." 

The soul of conversation is sympathy, and it has been 
truly said^ that argument is the death of conversation, if 
carried on in a spirit of hostility; but discussion is a 
pleasant and profitable thing, where you advance and 
defend your opinions as far as you can, and admit the 
truth of what is objected against them with equal im- 
partiality. This tone of conversation was well described 
by Dr. Johnson, when he said of some party at which 

2 Hazlitt. 

45 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

he had been present the night before — "We had a good 
talk. Sir!" 

Talking "shop" in a large company is equally de- 
structive of conversation; it causes much embarrass- 
ment and confusion. Its effect is not unlike that of the 
disturbance caused in a country dance by one who does 
not understand the figure ; and persistency in this course 
is regarded by cultivated and refined people as equiv- 
alent to absolute rudeness. It has been truly observed 
that persons of different trades and professions may all 
have great knowledge and ingenuity in their several 
vocations, the details of which will be very edifying to 
themselves, and just as incomprehensible to their neigh- 
bors ; but over and above this professional and technical 
knowledge, they must be supposed to have a stock of 
common sense and common feeling to furnish subjects 
for common conversation, or to give them any pleasure 
in each other^s company. An eminent man declared, 
more than a century ago, that a doctor in good society 
never talks of medicine, true nobles never speak of their 
ancestors, men of genius do not discuss their works; 
then why should some school teachers and professors, 
in a large company, incessantly prate of their schools 
and colleges? 

Occasionally, we meet with an individual whose con- 
versation attracts us no matter how nonsensical it may 
be. Coleridge is an example. Hazlitt affirms that 
Coleridge could talk to all sorts of people, on all sorts 
of subjects, without caring a farthing for their under- 
standing one word he says — and he talks only for ad- 
miration and to be listened to, and accordingly the least 

46 



CONVEESATION 

intemiption puts him out. I firmly believe, says Hazlitt, 
he would make just the same impression on half his 
audiences, if he purposely repeated absolute nonsense 
with the same voice and manner and inexhaustible flow 
of undulating speech! It was the habit of Coleridge 
when addressing public meetings to make long- 
winded prefatory apologies for his youth and inex- 
perience. He was cured of this habit, however, by 
Home Tooke, one of his literary contemporaries. On 
one occasion, when Coleridge was making his usual in- 
troductory apology. Home Tooke abruptly called out, 
"Speak up, young man." Coleridge, completely dis- 
concerted, took his seat, and it is nowhere recorded that 
he ever again committed the offense. CarJyle did not 
appreciate the volubility of Coleridge. On one occa- 
sion he exclaimed, after listening to one of Coleridge's 
harangues, "To sit still and be pumped into is never an 
exhilarating process." 

It has been truly said that one often feels an im- 
perative need of silence and recollection and repose. 
Carlyle must have been in this mood when on meeting 
a great talker at dinner, he laid down his knife and fork, 
and said in a voice of agonized entreaty: "For God's 
sake take me away, and put me in a room by myself and 
give me a pipe of tobacco."^ 

Gibbon, the historian, mentions the fact that four 
days in the week he had a place, without invitation, at 
the hospitable table of the celebrated Helvetius and, he 
declares, that in these synposia the pleasures of the 
table were improved by lively and liberal conversation. 
" Benson. 

4r 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

Helvetius was the friend of Fontenelle, Voltaire and 
Montesquieu — was not only the handsomest man of his 
time, but was possessed of a manner singularly charm- 
ing and of incomparable conversational powers. His 
famous book, "Del 'Esprit/' the composition of which 
occupied him more than seven years, was translated into 
almost all the languages of Europe, and was discussed 
in every literary circle. We may well believe that ihe 
exquisite enjo}Tnent derived from these conversations 
was mutual, because, we have somewhere read, that the 
young lady of a house where Gibbon had his temporary 
abode, expressed a desire to marry him, in order that her 
parents might continue to enjoy his society and his in- 
teresting and fascinating conversation. 

It is no doubt quite a solace and comfort to a man 
fatigued by intense mental labor or worn by the 
cares and struggles of life, to meet at the fireside a dull 
simple minded person of kindly disposition, with whom 
he can converse. Lord Mansfield found such a person 
and during winter evenings when exhausted by the work 
of the day, his lordship used him as a kind of cushion 
for his understanding. Some years ago there lived in 
Southern Indiana a profound lawyer and jurist who 
performed an immense amount of mental labor. It was 
observed by his friends that on Sunday he never failed 
to attend a church, presided over by an illiterate min- 
ister of the old type, whose only claim to distinction 
was based upon his nonsensical and insipid platitudes 
with their usual accompaniments — violent jesticulation 
and marvelous power of vociferation. The jurist was 
asked why he attended this church when there were 

48 



CONVERSATION 

other churches convenient in which educated ministers 
of ability and learning officiated. He replied, that when 
Sunday arrived he felt exhausted by the labors of the 
week, and that by attending the church in question he 
was enabled to enjoy an hour of absolute mental repose. 
Mr. Hazlitt gives an account of those delightful con- 
versations at Lamb's. "We used to have many lively 
skirmishes at Lamb's at their Thursday evening parties. 
* * * There was Lamb himself, the most delightful, 
the most provoking, the most witty and sensible of men. 
He always made the best pun, and the best remark in 
the course of the evening. His serious conversation, 
like his serious writing, is his best. No one ever stam- 
mered out such fine, piquant, deep, eloquent things in 
a half a dozen sentences as he does. His jests scald like 
tears; and he probes a question with his play upon 
words. * * * What choice venom! How often did 
we cut into the haunch of letters, while we discussed 
the haunch of mutton on the table !" 



4:9 



CHAPTER V. 

TOWN AND COUNTRY. 

In ancient times it was considered that the first 
requisite to happiness was that a man be born in a fa- 
mous city; but Plutarch very justly observes that it 
makes no difference where one may have been born be- 
cause real happiness consists principally in the dis- 
position and habit of the mind. 

The preference for town or country is largely deter- 
mined by the temperament and disposition of the indi- 
vidual. There are certain finely strung and sensitive 
natures whose spirits are affected not only by the climate, 
but by the scenery amid which they live. It is said 
that the Englishman, "saturated with the fogs of his 
island, is notoriously less cheerful than the inhabitants 
of sunny France." There are some places we admire 
and others we love, and Le Bruyere declared that it 
seemed to him that wit, humor, passion, taste and sen- 
timent, depend on the place we live in. The influence 
of places upon us is, indeed, marvelous; an eminent 
writer was led to declare that if melancholy comes over 
us by the margin of a great water another indelible 
law of our nature so orders it that the mountains exer- 

50 



TOWN AND COUNTRY 

cise a purifying influence upon our feelings, and among 
the hills passion gains in depth by all that it apparently 
loses in vivacity. It is with ineffable delight that the 
poet escapes from the smoke, glare and noise of city 
life to drink in the sweet air of country lanes and fields. 
The devotee of the country will assure you that God 
made the country and man made the town, and that it 
is not a matter of surprise that so many cultured and 
refined people are charmed with life in the country. He 
will declare that living in the country is conducive to 
health and longevity ; that the pleasures of town life are, 
of course, within the reach of every man who is regard- 
less of his health, his money, and his company. He 
will descant upon the salutary influence of the moun- 
tains upon the mind, that they make one calm — not- 
withstanding it is the experience of many that the effects 
of mountain scenery are exciting. Herbert Spencer, of 
whom it was said that he was not devoid of esthetic 
perception, affirmed that the sight of a mountain and 
music heard in a cathedral, were two of the things that 
moved him most. 

Another will declare that he finds no monotony, no 
tedium in this quiet life in the country — that there is a 
certain morality, a certain religion in the spirit of a 
secluded and country existence — that here he does not 
know the evil passions which ambition and strife are 
said to arouse, and is thus enabled to lead a life un- 
embittered by contumely and devote himself to the 
agreeable duties of home and family. He will tell you 
that all his life long he has loved rivers and poets who 
sang of rivers — and will recite the fact that even very 

51 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

young children are never more supremely happy than 
when playing on the banks of a stream of water — a sen- 
timent and desire which seem to be indigenous to our 
nature. He will remind you that on account of his fond- 
ness for the song of the birds at Cambridge, it was diffi- 
cult to prevail upon the cultured and refined Lowell to 
visit the city. He will relate, with much earnestness and 
enthusiasm, that Eousseau and many other of the 
world's celebrities sincerely preferred wild nature to a 
cultivated garden. He will urge that life in the coun- 
try is conducive to study and meditation, as one may 
there find the solitude which is so indispensable to the 
student and writer; and he will insist that "no con- 
siderable work was ever composed till its author, like an 
ancient magician, first retired to the grove, or to the 
closet, to invocate." He will quote the exact language 
of Daniel Webster, when he declared : "I like to contem- 
plate nature, and to hold communion unbroken by the 
presence of human beings. When thinking is to be done 
one must, of course, be alone. No man knows himself 
who does not sometimes keep his own company." He 
will remind you that many persons whose vocation is 
that of literature have remained in seclusion, almost 
conventual, for long periods of time; that Voltaire, 
notwithstanding he had talents well adapted for society, 
at one period of his life passed five years in the most 
secret seclusion, and indeed usually lived in retirement; 
and that Hawthorne withdrew himself from the face 
of man, and meditated for twelve lonely years on hu- 
manity. He will admit that there are men who think 

52 



TOWN AND COUNTEY 

things out in town, but will aflBmi that they are the 
strong men of abounding energy, who do their thinking 
only with their brains. 

The degree of comfort and delight derived from coun- 
try life must, of course, depend upon climate, scenery 
and environments, as well as upon the temperament and 
disposition of the individual. The vale of Cashmere, an 
elevated and enclosed valley in the Himalaya moun- 
tains, though not accessible to all who may wish to 
live or sojourn in the country, w^ould seem to be an 
ideal spot for such retirement. Much has been said and 
written about the beauty of the vale of Cashmere. 
"Spring encircles a fresh, green, smiling valley with a 
noble belt of glistening snow-capped ridges ; autumn fills 
the eye with the wonderful richness of the many col- 
ored foliage. At all times flows on the quiet glassy 
river, showing back the groves and avenues from its 
banks."! 

Some of us know that it is especially delightful in 
midwinter to leave the* inhospitable climate of the 
north for tropical and semi-tropical regions. Ambas- 
sador White, during an official visit to Santo Domingo, 
was charmed by the wonderful beauty of the scenery, 

^ It appears that the periodical rains, which almost 
deluge the rest of India, are shut out of Cashmere by the 
height of the mountains, so that only light showers fall 
there; these, however, are in abundance enough to fill 
some hundreds of cascades, which are precipitated into the 
valley, from every part of this stupendous and romantic 
bulwark that encircles it. The soil is the richest that can 
be conceived, and its productions those of the temperate 
zone. 

— Geographical Dictionary, 1823, p. 169. 
53 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

the luxuriance of the vegetation, and the bracing warmth 
of the climate, while the United States were going 
through a winter of unusual severity. 

The splenetic and fastidious Hazlitt contrasts the town 
and country. What he says is very interesting, but, of 
course, it can have only a limited application to our own 
age and country. 

"If familiarity in cities breeds contempt, ignorance 
in the country breeds aversion and dislike. 

"People come too much in contact in town, in other 
places they live too much apart, to unite cordially and 
easily. Our feelings in the former case are dissipated 
and exhausted by being called into constant and vain 
activity; in the latter they rust and grow dead for want 
of use. * * * If these, then, are the faults and vices 
of the inhabitants of town or of the country, where 
should a man go to live, so as to escape from them? I 
answer, that in the country we have the society of 
the groves, the fields, the brooks, and in London a man 
may keep to himself, or choose his company as he 
pleases. * * * In the country, men have no idea but 
of individuals, none of rights or principles — and a king 
as the greatest individual, is the highest idea they can 
form. He is a ^species alone,' and as superior to any 
single peasant as the latter is to the peasant's dog, or 
to a crow flying over his head. In London, the king is 
but as one to a million, is seldom seen, and then distin- 
guished only from others by the superior graces of his 
person. A country squire or a lord of the manor is a 
greater man in his village or hundred !" 

That Hazlitt had a partiality for rural scenes and 
54 



TOWN AND COUNTEY 

rural sports is manifest, from the following excerpts 
from his essay on ^^Novelty and Familiarity": "Who 
would not rather see a dance in the forest of Mont- 
morenci on a summer's evening by a hundred laughing 
peasant girls and their partners, who come to this scene 
for several miles round, rushing through the forest 
glades, as the heart panteth for the water-brooks, than 
all the pirouettes and entrechats performed at the 
French opera by the whole corps de ballet f 

Of course the advantages are not all on the side of the 
country. Sidney Smith, in considering the subject, 
declared that the charm of London is that you are never 
glad or sorry for ten minutes together; in the coun- 
try you are one and the other for weeks. 

Diderot, of whom a celebrated woman said that four 
lines from his pen made her ponder more, and inter- 
ested her more, than a complete work by any other au- 
thor — had a keen appreciation of the beauties of the 
country. He said to the young husband : "Arise from 
your couch in the early morn, in spite of the fascina- 
tions of the young and charming woman at whose side 
you repose, in order that you may see the rising of the 
sun in all his glory, and view the beautiful landscape 
moist with dew and glistening with light." 

Eminent men in all ages, and representing almost 
every vocation in life, have been stirred by bucolic 
dreams of a farm and the charms of nature. 

John Hampden, the renowned leader of the Long 
Parliament, retired to the duties and pleasures of a 
rural life. His country seat was located in one of the 
most beautiful parts of the county of Buckingham. We 

55 



A CONGLOMERATE 

read that the house was an old English mansion, built 
in the days of the Plantagenets and the Tudors ; that it 
stood on the brow of a hill which overlooked a narrow 
valley. "That the extensive woods which surround it 
were pierced by long avenues; that in this delightful 
retreat Hampden passed several years, performing with 
great activity all the duties of a landed gentleman and 
a magistrate, and amusing himself with books and with 
field sports/' 

Lord Bacon, in his intervals of rest from his political 
and judicial duties, was in the habit of retiring to Gor- 
hamburg. At that place his favorite amusement was 
gardening — which he declared to be "the purest of hu- 
man pleasures/' 

He has lived to no purpose who has not observed the 
instability and fickleness of public opinion. Public men, 
even those whose services to the State have been in- 
valuable, oftentimes become the victims of the whims 
and coquetries of public opinion, and have retired to 
the country for solace and comfort, and to be relieved 
from contumely and the objurgations of their country- 
men. The English statesman, Sir William Temple, 
whom Macaulay characterized as a man of lively parts 
and quick observation, a man of the world among men 
of letters, and a man of letters among men of the 
world — having fallen into disfavor and having seen 
clearly that the tempest was gathering fast, retired with 
his family to Moor Park. In that spot, then very se- 
cluded. Temple passed the remainder of his life. "The 
air agreed with him. The soil was fruitful, and well 
suited to the experimental farmer and gardner. The 

56 



TOWN AND COUNTRY 

gardens were laid out with the angular regularity which 
Sir William had admired in the flower beds of Haarlem 
and the Hague. A beautiful rivulet flowing from the 
hills of Surre}^, bounded the domain." 

Thomas Carlyle, in the selection of his countr3^-seat, 
seems not to have been influenced by the beauty cf 
landscape or luxuriance of foliage. "Hawkscliff/' to 
which he removed, was a wild moorland farm. He said : 
"Here I can have my horse, pure milk diet, and go on 
with literature and my life task generally, in the abso- 
lute solitude and pure silence of nature, with loving 
and helpful faces around me." 

George Meridith lived in a charming home near Box 
Hill in the midst of the most exquisite woodland 
scenery. 

Victor Hugo declared that he used to sleep like a 
child in his lonely dwelling in the country, which was 
so situated that he could hear beneath the casements 
the "soothing lullaby of the sea." 

Eousseau also retired to a cottage near the seashore. 
He said that as soon as he found himself among the trees, 
and in the midst of verdure, he felt that he was in an 
earthly paradise, and experienced an inward pleasure, 
just as if he were the happiest of human kind. He de- 
clared: "I took a curious pleasure in watching the 
waves break at my feet. They seemed to me to symbolize 
the tumult of the world, contrasted with the peace of 
my habitation; and the thought sometimes moved me 
so much that the tears ran down my cheeks." 

Henry Clay loved Ashland, his beautiful country 
home near Lexington. In his adjuration to the Senate 

57 



A CONGLOMERATE 

to pass his pacificatory measure and thus prevent Civil 
War, he said (we quote from memory) : "Pass this bill 
and tranquilize the country and I am willing to go 
home to Ashland and renounce public service forever. 
I will there find, amidst my flocks and herds and in the 
bosom of my family, sincerity and truth, attachment 
and fidelity, that I have not always found in the walks 
of public life.'^ 

The country is the refuge sought by many men of 
high aspirations who have become cynics and haters of 
mankind. Samuel Crisp, a literary contemporary of 
Dr. Johnson, in an unfortunate hour, decided to write 
a tragedy. He did so and it was called Crisp's "Ver- 
ginia." It was said that his talents and knowledge 
fitted him to appreciate almost every species of intel- 
lectual superiority; but his drama proved to be a fail- 
ure and was so feeble and unnatural that it was barely 
saved from instant damnation by the acting of Garrick 
and the partiality of the audience. He became thor- 
oughly disgusted with the world and all mankind, and 
retired to a solitary and long deserted mansion built on 
a commons in one of the wildest tracts of Surrey. It is 
said that "no road, not even a sheep walk, connected his 
lonely dwelling with the abodes of men." He lived many 
years but continued to the end to mourn for his tragedy. 
"We may conclude that while a residence or sojourn in 
the country may cure many of the ills of life, it cannot 
even mitigate the wounds of vanity. 

Voltaire had most ardent admirers and bitter de- 
tractors during his life, and this condition has continued 

58 



TOWN AND COUNTRY 

through all the ages since his death. We are indebted 
to Gibbon for the assertion that Voltaire, after forfeit- 
ing by his own misconduct, the friendship of the first of 
Kings, he retired at the age of sixty, with a plentiful 
fortune, to a free and beautiful country, and resided in 
the neighborhood of Lausanne. Goldsmith, however, de- 
clares that Voltaire was banished from his native coun- 
try for a satire upon the royal concubine. That he was 
tired at length of courts and all the follies of the great, 
and retired to Switzerland, a country of liberty, where 
he enjoyed tranquillity and the muse. 

Victor Hugo delivered an oration on Voltaire on May 
30, 1878, the one hundredth anniversary of his death. 
At the risk of becoming amenable to the charge of ir- 
relevancy^ which Hallam long ago declared to be only 
a venial offense, we will reproduce a few excerpts from 
that memorable oration: 

"One hundred years ago to-day a man died. He died 
immortal. 

"He was more than a man; he was an age. He had 
exercised a function and fulfilled a mission. 

"To sum up epochs, by giving them the names of men, 
has only been done by three peoples: Greece, Italy, 
France. We say the Age of Augustus, the Age of Louis 
Fourteenth, the Age of Voltaire. 

"These appellations have a great significance. * * * 
Until Voltaire, they were the names of the chiefs of 
states; Voltaire is more than the chief of a state; he is 
a chief of ideas. 

"Voltaire declared war against the coalitions of all 
59 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

the social iniquities. * * * And what was his weap- 
on? That which has the lightness of the wind and the 
power of the thunderbolt. A pen.^^ 

Many eminent men, on account of declining health or 
advancing years, have retired to the country for repose 
and recuperation. John Locke who at the end of twenty 
years' labor gave to the world that marvelous work, 
'^The Essay on the Human Understanding/' occupied 
the manor of Gates in Essex. He was then fifty-eight 
years of age. This was said to be the brightest of all 
his homes. Notwithstanding he was troubled with 
asthma and other ailments he survived fourteen years, 
deriving unspeakable delight amid the beautiful foliage 
of rural England. "He there enjoyed," says his bi- 
ographer, "as much domestic peace and literary leisure 
as was consistent with broken health." 

Lord Chesterfield whose letters to his son so abound 
in felicitous thought and happy observation lived to a 
great old age. We read that by reason of his numerous 
infirmities he lived at this period in complete seclusion, 
the most painful ailment being that of total deafness. 
He found his last solace in his charming country house 
at Blackheath. He occupied himself with gardening, 
and the cultivation of melons and pineapples. It pleased 
him, he said, to vegetate in company with them. Vol- 
taire, then an old man, wrote Chesterfield a character- 
istic letter in which he says: "I am content in believ- 
ing that if you have the sunlight in the beautiful house 
you have built, you will secure a few tolerably happy 
moments ; that is all one can hope for at our age. Cicero 
wrote a beautiful treatise on old age, but he did not 

60 



TOWN AND COUNTRY 

prove by the facts of his life the truth of his work; his 
latter years were extremely unhappy. You have lived 
longer and more happily than he. * * * The great- 
est of prizes — perennial happiness — has never been 
gained by a single human being. * * * You never 
have, in any way, been a charlatan, nor the dupe of 
charlatans, and this I consider a very uncommon qual- 
ity, a quality contributing to the glimpse of happiness 
we are allowed to enjoy in this short life." 

Charles Lamb seems to have divided his affections be- 
tween the town and the country : "I am in love with this 
great earth, the face of town and country, the unspeak- 
able rural solitudes and the sweet security of streets. 
I would set up my tabernacle here. I am content to stand 
still at the age to which I am arrived, I and my friends, 
to be no younger, no richer, no handsomer. I do not 
want to be weaned by age, or drop like mellow fruit, as 
they say, into the grave. * * * Sun and sky, and 
breeze and solitary walks, and summer holidays, and the 
greenness of fields, and the delicious juices of meats and 
fishes, and society, and the cheerful glass, and the candle- 
light, and fireside conversations, and innocent vanities 
and jests, and irony itself — do these things go out with 
lifeP 



61 



CHAPTER VI. 

CONSTANT EMPLOYMENT. 

It is as true as it is trite that in order to be happy 
one must be occupied. Count Rumford recognized its 
truth in his House of Industry at Munich. In order to 
inspire the rising generation with an early bias toward 
labor he invited parents to send their children to his es- 
tablishment before they were old enough to do any kind 
of work, and actually paid them for doing nothing but 
merely being present when others were busy around 
them. 

It was the opinion of Thomas Carlyle that the most 
unhappy of all men is the man that cannot tell what he 
is going to do, that has got no work cut out for him in 
the world and does not go into it. His last written 
words were : "A life without work in it, as mine now is, 
has less and less worth to me; nay, sometimes a feeling 
of disgrace and blame is in me." He experienced the 
absolute necessity for incessant occupation "even in his 
very old age. Marcus Aurelius deplored the fact that 
there are so many who fritter away their energies, weary- 
ing themselves with life, without a settled aim to which 
they may direct every desire and every thought. We all 
know from experience and observation that without oc- 

62 



CONSTANT EMPLOYMENT 

cupation the whole nature lags; it makes no progress, 
it attains no true value or dignity; and that nothing 
is more conducive than idleness to morbidity of both 
mind and body. It has been said^ that Franklin's confi- 
dence in the happiness with which industry, honesty and 
economy will crowd the life of this work-day world is 
such that he runs over with felicity. 

Tacitus bitterly inveighs against those who loiter in 
voluptuousness and inglorious ease. We know of a man 
who became absolutely sick of himself by the fact that 
he had absolutely nothing to do, and by the transition 
from an active to an indolent life; and we know of a 
woman who was bored by the continual vacancy of her 
days. Eousseau declared that some women in such cases 
take to love, some to drink, some to religion. It was the 
observation of Pryde that young people should never be 
allowed to idle away their time. Idleness is the soil 
from which almost every wickedness grows. When we 
are idle our bodies and our minds soon become morbid. 
Being morbid, we look at everything and everybody with 
a jaundiced eye; and the people of every-day life seem 
insipid, tiresome and even hateful. 

It was the opinion of Perreyve, the eminent French- 
man, that nothing paralyzes the mind like the accepted 
habit of doing nothing; and he observed that life, at 
watering places, is wonderful in this respect: one has 
nothing to do, and yet never an instant to call his own. 
It is idleness organized. His biographer avers that the 
misfortune of the aristocracy seemed to Perreyve to be 
want of occupation, especially in young men; but he 

^ Arnold. 

63 



A CONGLOMERATE 

found and approved a tendency to combat this by giv- 
ing them a professional training.^ 

Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy" is regarded as one 
of the most marvelous productions of the human mind. 
In this voluminous work the author discusses the sub- 
ject of melancholy from every conceivable standpoint — 
what it is, with all the kinds, causes and symptoms — 
and, as he himself declares, he treats the subject philo- 
sophically, medicinally and historically. It is a store- 
house of quotations from Greek and Latin authors. The 
book went through five editions in the author's lifetime, 
and Dr. Johnson declared that it was the only book that 
ever took him out of bed two hours before the usual time. 
After this learned and exhaustive dissertation he gives 
as the best remedy for infelicity: "Be not solitary; be 
not idle." 

One does not find repose in finding idleness. It is 
true that we may sometimes envy the man who enjo3'^s 
and rests, but it has been beautifully and truly said that 
the smile of heaven settles on the front of him who la- 
bors and aspires. 

The conclusion to which some arrive that man was 
born to live "in the convulsions of disquiet, or in the 
lethargy of idleness" is erroneous. The owner of a small 
farm declared: I have no more than twenty acres of 
ground, the whole of which I cultivate myself with the 
help of my children; and our labor keeps off from us 
three great evils — idleness, vice and want. Work then 
without disputing it; it is the only way to render life 
supportable. 

2 Hamerton. 

64 



CONSTANT EMPLOYMENT 

As a rule the life of all truly great men has been a 
life of intense and incessant labor. It has been observed^ 
that when a very clever man, or a very great man, takes 
to cultivating turnips and retiring, it is generally an im- 
posture. The moment men cease to talk of their turnips, 
they are wretched and full of self-reproach. Let every 
man be occupied, and occupied in the highest employ- 
ment of which his nature is capable, and die with the 
consciousness that he has done his best. 

It has been suggested that a young man should pro- 
pose to himself a brilliant and conspicuous goal, and go 
toward it secretly; let no one see his methods or his 
progress — and by all means to keep that law of laws 
— secrecy. It will be remembered that Lord Byron 
adopted this method. In the midst of his rollicking set 
at Cambridge he was secretly girding up his loins, and 
collecting his powers to make a great struggle for fame. 
Having followed this regime he compared himself to a 
slumbering volcano and longed to burst on the world; 
only a brief period elapsed until he was able to say with 
trutli : "I woke one morning and found myself famous." 

Of course it is not meant that the employment which 
is essential to happiness must be incessant throughout 
the day. Mr. Benson deprecates the fact that in literary 
work there are many people who work too long, and try 
to prolong the energies of the morning into the after- 
noon, and the tail of the afternoon into the peace of the 
evening. 

The suffering from unemployed energy is no less 
poignant than that from exhaustion. Indeed, a man's 

^S. Smith. 

65 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

health seldom suffers from the work that he loves and 
does for his own sake. 

It was the opinion of Hazlitt that no one is idle who 
can do anything. That it is conscious inability, or the 
sense of repeated failure, that prevents us from under- 
taking, or deters us from the prosecution of any work. 
This is no doubt true in many cases, but it will not be 
denied that oftentimes idleness is the result of disin- 
clination — a dogged determination not to work. But 
we can all heartily concur in his further observation that 
he who does nothing renders himself incapable of doing 
anything; that while we are executing any work, we are 
preparing and qualifying ourselves to undertake another. 

The human countenance speaks volumes. The features 
of an industrious man, with an informed and active 
mind, acquire a certain spirit and mobility which is not 
observable in those of an idle person who spends the 
greater part of his time in a state of stupor and thought- 
less repose. 

We have all read of the fair and happy milk-maid who 
made her hand hard with labor, and her heart soft with 
pity. 

It is the plain unvarnished truth that if we wish to 
brush away the cobwebs of melancholy from our brains 
we must get busy. 

Gustave Flaubert, the French novelist, writes to 
Madame X : "The only way not to be unhappy is to shut 
yourself up in art, and count everything else as nothing. 
* * * I observe that I no longer laugh much, and 
am no longer depressed. I am ripe. You talk of my se- 
renity and envy me. * * * j i^g^t away at my an- 

66 



CONSTANT EMPLOYMENT 

vil, never troubling myself whether it rains or blows, 
for hail or thunder. I was not like that formerly. The 
change has taken place naturally, though my will has 
counted for something in the matter.^' 



67 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE. 

A celebrated lady declared that she liked to entertain 
a circle of gentlemen — that it was so amusing to observe 
how they enjoy a judiciously concocted repast. It is 
as true as it is trite, that the way to a man's heart is 
through his stomach. Cleopatra is said to have owed 
her empire over Csesar as much to her suppers as to her 
beauty — and even so great a man as Cardinal Wolsey 
was conciliated by the good dishes on the Field of the 
Cloth of Gold. Most men will agree with the grave 
French jurist who wrote a learned work on the physi- 
ology of taste, when he affirmed "that the discovery of 
a new dish does more for human happiness than the dis- 
covery of a new star.^' It has been said that it is France 
that leads the rest of the world in civilization, and it 
is in France that the art of gastronomy has been carried 
to the limit of perfection. We certainly all imperatively 
need a nutritious diet and dire results have been known 
to follow its absence. A regard for one's physical health 
is of primary importance. Among the many sage ob- 
servations of Dr. Johnson two have a bearing upon this 
subject: "Every man is a rascal when he is sick;" and 
"A man who has no regard for his stomach will have no 

68 



THE PLEASURES OF THE TABLE 

regard for anything else." "That a man's energy, hap- 
piness and even goodness, are dependent, more or less, 
upon his bodily condition, and consequently upon the 
condition of his stomach, few persons at this day will 
hesitate to admit. * * * A man of the kindest im- 
pulses has only to feed upon indigestible food for a few 
days, and forthwith his liver is affected, and then his 
brain. * * * Sydney Smith did not exaggerate when 
he affirmed that old friendships are often destroyed by 
toasted cheese, and hard salted meat has often led to 
suicide. * * * ^ man of unquestionable piety once 
said that he could not worship God until he had eaten 
his breakfast. * * * Voltaire affirms that the mas- 
sacre of St. Bartholomew was primarily due to the utter 
incapacity of the king to digest his food. Had Josephine 
been a good cook, perhaps history might have been spared 
one of its saddest scandals."^ 

A person suffering from the effects of over-eating, or 
eating indigestible food, is certainly in a pitiable condi- 
tion. The tyranny of the palate seems never to have 
been adequately described and criticized, but an eminent 
French writer declared that in Paris the luxury of the 
table is the courtesan's one competitor. The deplorable 
condition of Jonathan Swift was said to have been 
caused by a surfeit of food. That he suffered from noth- 
ing that could be called mental derangement until the 
"labyrinthine vertigo," to which he was subject, pro- 
duced paralysis, a symptom of which was the automatic 
utterance of words ungoverned by intention. "To think 
of him," says Thackeray, "is like thinking of the ruin 

^ Mathews. 

69 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

of a great empire." We are here reminded of the lines 
of Dr. Johnson : 

"From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage flowed, 
And Swift expired a driveller and a show." 

We have read of an ambassador who, during his splen- 
did dinners at the embassy, simply toyed with a bit of 
bread, not desiring to eat anything^ snlfering as he was 
from induration of the liver caused by gastronomic in- 
discretions. 

Ambassador White is our authority for the state- 
ment that the ill nature of Bismarck was caused by 
eating too many Plover's eggs, a diet which was never 
considered favorable to digestion. Mr. White observes 
that this had reference to the fact that certain admirers 
of the Chancellor in the neighborhood of the North Sea 
were accustomed to send him, each year, a large basket 
of plover's eggs, of which he was very fond. That Bis- 
marck's constant struggle against the disorders which 
beset him became pathetic. He once asked the ambas- 
sador how he managed to sleep in Berlin, and on being 
answered he said: "Well, I can never sleep in Berlin 
at night when it is quiet; but as soon as the noise be- 
gins, about four o'clock in the morning, I can sleep a 
little and get my rest for the day." Bismarck, as we 
all know, was a man of iron will and is regarded as the 
greatest German since Luther. His famous saying, "We 
Germans fear God and naught beside," has become his- 
toric. We certainly have here a most illustrious example 
of the tyranny of the palate. 

We have read of a lady who ate little in order to at- 



THE PLEASUEES OF THE TABLE 

tract the eye by her slender shape; but there are con- 
siderations even more important than that. We are 
thoroughly convinced that digestion is the great secret 
of life, and that character, talents and virtues are pow- 
erfully affected by the quantity and quality of the food 
we eat. It has been asserted by those versed in dietetics 
that as a rule one-fourth of what we eat tends to sus- 
tain life and the remaining three-fourths to destroy it. 
We think the man did not exaggerate when he affirmed 
that a vast majority of people eat double, if not treble, 
the food that is essential to robust health, and that the 
excess engenders disease which induce a premature old 
age, and fill many of its days with torment. 

We read that in Greece the common people live on 
one meal a day, and the richer on two, and that an Eng- 
lish or American laborer will consume at one meal 
what would serve a Greek family of six for a day. 
"They are very courteous and very sunny in disposition, 
and entirely strangers to melancholy, so that both suicide 
and insanity are unknown among them." They are re- 
puted to be the most temperate of Christian nations and 
the chastest. 

Jacquemont, the French traveler and naturalist, held 
to the doctrine that man in a state of society eats en- 
tirely too much. He said: "I dine daily with a piece 
of bread and cheese and a glass of wine, on the corner 
of my writing-table." Most of us would consider this 
excessive abstemiousness. He asserted, what is doubt- 
less true, that to be able to maintain health and strength 
on short rations is a most valuable accomplishment for a 
traveler. 

71 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

Herbert Spencer aflBrmed that one of the blessings that 
advancing years had brought him was a certain freedom 
from depression. He was indebted to an eminent doc- 
tor for a cure for this malady. His advice was : "Don't 
eat pastry; and for a fortnight don't do anything you 
don't like. * * * It is often a kind of cramp and 
needs an easier position. Try and get a little change; 
read novels; don't get tired; sit in the open air." He 
also acknowledged his indebtedness to a witty lady 
who suggested that a recumbent position is a great aid 
to cheerfulness. Spencer was a profound student and 
thinker and no doubt fully recognized the fact that ex- 
cessive concentration tends to impair digestibility. 
' Gibbon, the historian, was of tender constitution, and 
he declared that while he never knew "the madness of 
superfluous health" his constitution was greatly fortified 
by abstemiousness. 

The venerable Senator Cockerill of Missouri, who, in 
his public capacity, rendered valuable service to his 
country, being asked to account for his admirable con- 
dition of physical and mental preservation, at his ad- 
vanced age, replied: "Many people eat very heartily 
at luncheon ; I eat a big apple and nothing more." 

Mr. Bigelow, in dining with President Van Buren, 
observed that the latter only drank one small wine- 
glass of madeira at his dinner, and took no dessert but 
an apple. He said that he never took any other dessert 
but a little fruit, neither pudding nor pastry. 

General James Grant Wilson in his sketch of the 
poet W. C. Bryant's life, says Mr. Mathews, tells us that 
when he asked him the secret of his health and vigor at 

72 



THE PLEASUEES OF THE TABLE 

eighty and upward, the poet replied : "It is all summed 
up in one word — ^moderation. You know I am a mod- 
erate eater and drinker, moderate in my work, as well as 
in my pleasures." 

It is a good and safe rule to punish our appetites 
rather than to be punished by them. We occasionally 
meet with instances of gastronomic perversity. Dryden 
ate raw meat, in large quantities, for the sake of ob- 
taining splendid dreams. Many persist in eating hard 
boiled eggs which those skilled in dietetics will inform 
us become a tasteless leathery substance, which can be 
of no more use in the stomach than so much skin and 
hair. We now and then meet with a man whose 
voracity knows no bounds. He will tell you that his 
stomach, like all nature, abhors a vacuum; his di- 
gestion is so rapid and his appetite so speedily renewed, 
that he ceases to be a man and becomes a mere digestive 
apparatus. But these cases are rare. Then we some- 
times meet with one who cherishes the happy, but per- 
verse, delusion that indigestion after dinner is a com- 
plaint to be cured by a hearty supper. 

It was said of an eminent jurist in explanation of 
his phenomenal success that he lived eighty years and 
preserved his digestion unimpaired; and Lord Oxford 
declared that on account of care and moderation in eat- 
ing, his stomach seemed likely to survive the rest of his 
person. 

Eadical temperance people insist on total abstinence 
from the use of alcoholic liquor and other intoxicants at 
all times and under all circumstances. It is our delib- 
erate opinion that the intemperate utterances and ac- 

73 



A CONGLOMERATE 

tions of temperance advocates have done more to retard 
the cause of real temperance than anything else. Great 
good in the world has, without doubt, been accomplished 
by agitation — but the trouble is the agitator rarely 
knows when to quit. The radicalism of the slavery 
agitators in the North which finally precipitated a ter- 
rible civil war upon the country is an illustration. They 
rejected with scorn the patriotic plan proposed by Mr. 
Clay and other lovers of the Union to eliminate slavery, 
preserve the Union and avert war. The extremists in- 
sisted on "a little blood letting." 

It is no part of our purpose to enter into any gen- 
eral consideration of the subject of intemperance in 
drinking. That is, indeed, already a well trodden field. 
We can not refrain, however, from enumerating some 
of the good things arising from the discontinuance of 
the use of intoxicating drinks, as noted by an eminent 
man of world-wide fame, who had himself been addicted 
to the use of intoxicants at a former period of his life: 
"First, sweet sleep; having never known what sleep 
was, I sleep like a baby or a plow boy. If I wake 
no needless terrors, no black visions of life, but pleasing 
hopes and pleasing recollections. If I dream it is not of 
lions and tigers, but of things delightful to contemplate. 
Secondly, I can take longer walks, and make greater 
exertions, without fatigue. My understanding is im- 
proved and I comprehend political economy. * * * 
The stomach quite at rest; no heart burn, no pain, no 
di&tension." 

We are indebted to Ambassador White, who has been 
much abroad, for the assertion that the European takes 

74 



THE PLEASUEES OF THE TABLE 

with his dinners, as a rule, a glass or two of wine or 
beer, and is little, if at all, the worse for it. If he 
ever takes any distilled liquor, he sips a very small glass 
of it after his dinner, to aid digestion. 

Dr. Chambers, a high authority on dietetics, declares 
that the effect on a healthy man of taking with a meal 
such a quantity of fermented liquor as puts him at ease 
with himself and the world around, without untoward 
exhilaration, is to arrest the wear of the nervous system, 
especially that part employed in emotion and sensa- 
tion. Just as often, then, as the zest for food is raised 
to its normal standard by a little wine or beer with a 
meal, the moderate consumer is as much really better 
as he feels the better for it. Where the food is as keenly 
enjoyed without it, the consumption of a stimulant is 
useless. But alcohol is not a source of force, and its 
direct action is an arrest of vitality. In a further con- 
sideration of the subject the eminent doctor observes 
that "AVhen a man has tired himself by intellectual 
exertion, a moderate quantity of alcoholic stimulant 
taken with food acts as an anesthetic, stays the wear of 
the system which is going on, and allows the nerve 
force to be turned to the due digestion of the meal. But 
it must be followed by rest from toil, and is in essence 
a part of the same treatment which includes rest — it is 
an artificial rest. To continue to labor and at the same 
time to take an anesthetic is a physiological inconsist- 
ency." Dr. Chambers makes the further observation 
that there is no habit more fatal to a literary man than 
that of taking stimulants between meals ; the vital powers 
go on w^earing out more and more without their cry for 

75 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

help being perceived, and in the end break down irrev- 
oeablj. 

But what shall we say of tea, that essentially feminine 
drink which "cheers but does not inebriate?" We will 
let Lo Yu, the earliest Chinese writer on the subject, 
extol its virtues. He says : "It tempers the spirits and 
harmonizes the mind, dispels lassitude and relieves 
fatigue, awakens thought and prevents drowsiness, light- 
ens or refreshes the body, and clears the perceptive facuL 
ties.'' 



76 



CHAPTEE VIII. 



LITERARY PURSUITS. 



In the present day the old proverb "He that increaseth 
knowledge increaseth sorrov/" has been given only a 
very limited application; and it is no longer asserted 
that to be happy one must be a fool, upon the theory 
that it is the empty vessel that has a merry ring. Even 
the solemn warning of writers on dietetics that excessive 
concentration impairs digestibility, has been disre- 
garded; and the confident declaration that the biogra- 
phies of eminent men show that great powers of mind 
are not friendly to cheerfulness, has been no less com- 
pletely ignored. These time-worn theories have been un- 
ceremoniously relegated to the rear. 

It is true that there have been celebrated men who, 
on account of some singular perversity of disposition or 
temperament, have feigned to regard every degree of 
literary attainments with indifference, and had no ap- 
preciation whatever of the graces and refinements of 
literature in others. In our own country, we have had 
a delectable exhibition of a want of appreciation of 
literature, in the case of a hurly-burly politician, who 
referred contemptuously to a man eminent in literature 

77 



A CONGLOMERATE 

as "one of those literary fellows/^ When Voltaire vis- 
ited Congreve, the latter disclaimed the character of a 
poet — declared that his plays were trifles produced in 
an idle hour, and begged that Voltaire would consider 
him merely as a gentleman. "If you had been merely 
a gentleman," said Voltaire, "I should not have come 
to see you." 

It was said of Mr. Saurin, an eminent barrister, 
"That his leisure has never been dedicated to the ac- 
quisition of scientific knowledge, nor has he sought a 
relaxation from his severer occupations in the softness 
of the polite arts. His earliest tastes and prelilections 
were always in coincidence with his profession. Free 
from all literary addiction, he not only did not listen 
to, but never heard the solicitations of the muse." 

Horace Walpole had an extreme aversion to being 
considered a man of letters. "He wished to be looked 
upon," says Macaulay, "as one of those epicurean gods 
of the earth who do nothing at all, and who pass their 
existence in the contemplation of their own perfections. 
* * * Walpole could not bear the imputation of 
having attended to anything so unfashionable as the im- 
provement of his mind." 

The same author declares that his works "are destitute 
of every charm which is derived from elevation or from 
tenderness of sentiment." 

It was said of Trippier, the great French lawyer, that 
he was wholly innocent of the sin of polite reading. 
Lord Manners had no taste for general reading or soli- 
tary meditation — and, it is affirmed of him that he 
"dedicated his extrajudicial hours to social ease, and 

78 



LITERAEY PURSUITS 

naturally fell into a companionship with those who were 
least disposed to shake his faith in his prejudices/' 

Lord Abinger, for many years the most eminent mem- 
ber of the bar of England, ignored literary pursuits; 
and, in the opinion of his biographer, "his life teaches 
the evanescent character of the celebrity of a mere ad- 
vocate. He addicted himself exclusively to advocacy in 
the courts. * * * Doubtless he despised the lofty as- 
pirations of Erskine, and the versatile usefulness of 
Brougham."^ Patrick Henry was richly endowed by 
nature, but we are assured by his biographer that "in 
the zenith of his glory, Mr. Henry had frequent occa- 
sion to deplore the consequences of his early neglect of 
literature, and to bewail the ghosts of his departed 
hours." His biographer adds: "Of Mr. Henry it was 
certainly true, as Doctor Johnson observed of Swift, that 
he was not one of those who, having lost one part of his 
life in idleness, are tempted to throw away the remainder 
in despair." 

In the second quarter of the last century, De Tocque- 
ville declared in his "American Institutions" that "The 
inhabitants of the United States look upon what is prop- 
erly styled literary pursuits with a kind of disapproba- 
tion. * * * jf -j-jjg observer singles out the learned, 
he will be astonished to find how rare they are; but if 
he counts the ignorant, the American people will appear 
to be the most enlightened community in the world." 
If the eminent Frenchman were alive to-day, he might be 
disposed to make some modifications of his opinion ex- 
pressed three-quarters of a century ago. 

^ Browne. 

79 



A CONGLOMERATE 

We are persuaded that the instances of absolute in- 
difference or hostility to literary pursuits, are distin- 
guished by their singularity, and operate as exceptions. 
Francis Bacon was a busy man, with his laborious duties ' 
in the study and practice of law, and with the "assi- 
duities of a courtier's life;" but he found time during 
his periods of relaxation from those duties, to retire to 
his beautiful retreat, Gorhamburg, where he devoted 
himself wholly to study. The utilization of his hours of 
leisure was the means of his becoming the father of 
modern science, and giving to the world the "Baconian 
Philosophy." Alexander the Great was fond of polite 
learning and found time for extensive reading. Eras- 
mus found time for literary pursuits. It was said that 
he was so much versed in common life that he has trans- 
mitted to us the most perfect delineation of the manners 
of his age ; and that he "joined to the knowledge of the 
whole such application to books, that he will stand for- 
ever in the first rank of literary heroes." Hugo Gro- 
tius, pre-eminently successful in his profession, and the 
great founder of modern international law, found time to 
enjoy the pleasurers of literature. "History, theology, ju- 
risprudence, politics, classics, poetry — all these fields he 
cultivated, and has left numerous works in each kind." 
Sir Mathew Hale, the head of his profession, and Lord 
Chief Justice of England, devoted much time to the 
study of pure mathematics, to investigations in physics 
and chemistry, and even to anatomy and architecture; 
and there can be no doubt, says his biographer, that this 
varied learning enhanced considerably the value of many 
of his judicial decisions. 

80 



LITERAEY PUESUITS 

William Wirt, attorney-general of the United States, 
under the administration of Mr. Monroe, and counsel in 
the celebrated case of Aaron Burr, devoted much time 
to literature and gave to the reading public several ad- 
mired productions — the beautiful life of Patrick Henry 
being one of them. The same is true of Chancellor 
Kent. His intense judicial and professional labors did 
not prevent him from reading largely of history, poetry, 
geography, voyages and travels. Judge Story, notwith- 
standing his prodigious judicial and authorial labors, 
found time to engage in literary pursuits — was an in- 
defatigable reader — and his letters abound in literary 
allusions. John Quincy Adams devoted much time to 
literature and general reading. His biographer affirms 
that "Although Mr. Adams gave most of his days to 
the service of his country, yet he was fond of literary 
pursuits, and acquired during his hours of relaxation 
from sterner duties, a vast fund of classic lore and 
useful learning.^' His biographe,*r adds : "That the 
reputation of Mr. Adams for literary and scholastic at- 
tainments quite equaled his fame as a politician and 
statesman." 

It will not be denied that intellectual work, labor in 
the upper regions of mental eflport, is one of the greatest 
achievements of man; and, day by day, as time passes 
on, one becomes more and more convinced that the pleas- 
ures of the mind are vastly superior to those of the 
senses. An eminent writer^ urges the importance of 
cultivating a literary taste as a foundation for the 
purest enjoyment the world affords. He declares that a 

^ Mathews. 

81 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

book is a voiceless teacher, and a great library is a vir- 
tual university; that a literary taste brings its possessor 
into ever-renewing communion with all that is noblest 
and best in the thought of the past. He says: ^^The 
winnowed and garnered wisdom of the ages is his daily 
food. Wliatever is lofty, profound or acute in specula- 
tion, delicate or refined in feeling, wise, witty or quaint 
in suggestion, is accessible to the lover of books. They 
enlarge space for him and prolong time. * * * The 
reader becomes an inhabitant of every country, a con- 
temporary of all ages, and converses with the wisest, 
the noblest, the tenderest, and the purest spirits that 
have adorned humanity.'' 

Some one has observed that there is nothing more con- 
ducive to happiness than the free exercise of the mind 
in pursuits congenial to it; and it was the opinion of 
Doctor Johnson that a desire of knowledge is the natural 
feeling of mankind, and he declared "that every human 
being whose mind is not debauched will give all that he 
has to get knowledge." 

It is unquestionably true that the love of study is a 
passion which derives fresh vigor from enjoyment and, 
as the historian Gibbon suggests, it supplies each day, 
each hour, with a perpetual source of independent and 
rational pleasure. It is said that one of the most beau- 
tiful passages in the writings of Rousseau is that in the 
sixth book of the "Confessions" where he describes the 
awakening in him of the literary sense. "An indefin- 
able taint of death had always clung about him, and now 
in early manhood he believed himself smitten by mortal 
disease. He asked himself how he might make as much 

82 



LITEEAEY PUESUITS 

as possible of the interval that remained; and he was 
not biased by anything in his previous life when he de- 
cided that it must be by intellectual excitement, which 
he found just then in the clear, fresh writings of Vol- 
taire." 

It has been asserted with truth that reading, study, 
and literary pursuits are the true food of a healthy 
mind. They are something more. They fortify the 
soul against the calamities of life ; they are a relief from 
loneliness, and a solace and refuge in sickness and sor- 
row; they are conducive to serenity amid uncongenial 
environments, and a source of consolation for physical 
pain and domestic afflictions; they prevent the de- 
spondency of age and declining health from resting like 
a pall upon the countenance; and, in short, if not a 
panacea for the ills of life, they are all powerful in the 
mitigation of those ills. Macaulay says that "Literature 
consoles sorrow and assuages pain, and brings gladness 
to eyes which fail with wakefulness and tears, and ache 
for the dark house and the long sleep." The same au- 
thor declares that a great writer is the friend and 
benefactor of his readers. That the debt which one 
owes to the great minds of former ages is incalculable. 
''They have guided him to truth. They have filled his 
mind with noble and graceful images. They have stood 
by him in all vicissitudes — comforters in sorrow, nurses 
in sickness, companions in solitude." 

When a passion for knowledge and reading has been 
acquired the battle is almost won; then a life destitute 
of literary pleasures, would be absolutely insipid. The 
reasons in favor of general reading and polite literature 

83 



A CONGLOMERATE 

are so multifarious that it would be difficult to enu- 
merate them. That such pursuits develop the kindlier 
feelings, and are conducive to an agreeable life will not 
be denied. They soften and polish our nature by reason 
and discipline; they give us true freedom of soul and 
real self-sufficiency ; they impart to us that noble faculty 
"whereby man is able to live in the past and in the fu- 
ture, in the distant and in the unreal;'^ they enable us 
to hold converse with the spirits of the mighty dead; 
they mitigate sorrow and assuage pain; they give us 
after many years "a tranquil self-respect, and, what is 
still rarer and better, a very deep and earnest reverence 
for the greatness which is above us;" they ennoble the 
mind and as a result invigorate the body, and are thus 
conducive to longevity; they give us the spirit of tolera- 
tion, and that nameless grace that comes from a mind 
fortified by literary culture; they make us "clearer in 
head, larger in heart, and nobler in action;" they give 
us the power to think and enjoy the thoughts of others ; 
they widen the present by adding to it the past and the 
future ; and they enlarge us in thought, feeling and pur- 
pose, and "lay the foundation of intellectual pleasures 
at the other extreme of life." 

Plutarch filled his mind with the sublime images of 
the best and greatest men, by attention to history and 
biography; and he says, "If I contract any blemish or 
ill custom from other company which I am unavoidably 
engaged in, I correct and expel them by calmly and dis- 
passionately turning my thoughts to those excellent 
examples." 

We have the words of Cicero that there is nothing so 
8-1 



LITEEAEY PUKSUITS 

charming as the knowledge of literature, that branch of 
literature which enables us to discover the infinity of 
things, the immensity of nature, the heavens, the earth 
and the seas. That it is this which furnishes us where- 
with to live well and happily, and guides us to pass our 
lives without displeasure and without offense. 

Sydney Smith, always charming and instructive, has 
painted in glowing colors the exquisite delight and con- 
solation derived from literary pursuits. He says : "Well 
and happy has that man conducted his understanding, 
who has learned to derive from the exercise of it, regular 
occupation and rational delight; who, after having over- 
come the first pain of application, and acquired a habit 
of looking inwardly upon his own mind, perceives that 
every day is multiplying the relations, confirming the 
accuracy, and augmenting the number of his ideas ; who 
feels that he is rising in the scale of intellectual be- 
ings, gathering new strength with ever}^ new difficulty 
which he subdues, and enjoying to-day as his pleasure 
that which yesterday he labored at as his toil. There 
are many consolations in the mind of such a man which 
no common life can ever afford; and many enjoyments 
which it has not to give. * * * It is worth while in 
the days of our youth to strive hard for this great dis- 
cipline; to pass sleepless nights for it, to give up to it 
laborious days; to spurn for it present pleasures; to 
endure for it afflicting poverty; to wade for it through 
darkness, and sorrow, and contempt, as the great spirits 
of the world have done in all ages and all times." 

Smith was convinced that the greatest natural genius 
cannot subsist on its own stock; and that he who re- 

85 



A CONGLOMERATE 

solves never to ransack any mind but his own, will be 
soon reduced from mere barrenness to the poorest of 
imitations. He declared that the first thing to be done 
in conducting the understanding is precisely the same as 
in conducting the body — to give it regular and copious 
supplies of food, in order, as he said, "to prevent the 
atrophy and marasmus of mind, which comes on from 
giving it no new ideas." 

It was said that he read many books, and was con- 
tent, on principle, to secure the best use of his faculties, 
to remain ignorant of many others, though he was capa- 
ble of plucking out the heart of a series of volumes in a 
morning. Gibbon recommended to the student a prac- 
tice which he adopted; after glancing his eyes over the 
design and order of a new book, he suspended the pe- 
rusal till he had finished the task of self-examination, 
till he had resolved in a solitary walk all that he knew, 
or believed, or had thought on the subject of the whole 
work, or some particular chapter; he said he was then 
qualified to discern how much the author added to his 
original stock. "If I was sometimes satisfied by the 
agreement," he declares, "I was sometimes alarmed by 
the opposition of our ideas." 

It is rarely indeed that we meet with a passage more 
beautiful in thought and expression — and more truth- 
ful — than the following quotation from DeBury: 

"The desirable treasure of wisdom and knowledge, 
which all men covet from the impulse of nature, infinite- 
ly surpasses all the riches of the world; in comparison 
with which precious stones are vile, silver is cla}^ and 
purified gold grains of sand; in the splendor of which 

86 



LITEKAEY PUESUITS 

the sun and moon grow dim to the sight, in the admir- 
able sweetness of which honey and manna are bitter to 
the taste. * * * The touch of the voice perishes with 
the sound. Truth, latent in the mind, is hidden wisdom 
and invisible treasure; but the truth which illuminates 
books desires to manifest itself to every sense, to the 
sight when read, to the hearing when heard ; it moreover 
in a manner commends itself to the touch, when sub- 
mitting to be transcribed, collated, corrected and pre- 
served. Truth confined to the mind, though it may be 
the possession of a noble soul, while it wants a com- 
panion and is not judged of either by the sight or the 
hearing, appears to be inconsistent with pleasure. 
* * * But the truth written in a book, being not 
fluctuating, but permanent, shows itself openly to the 
sight passing through the spiritual ways of the eyes, as 
the porches and halls of common sense and imagination : 
it enters the chambers of intellect, reposes itself upon 
the couch of memory and there congenerates the eternal 
truth of the mind." 

If a young friend, with a decided literary predilection, 
should ask a suggestion from us we would advise that he 
keep a diary or journal. It is all important. Mr. Ben- 
son declares that he derived many advantages from keep- 
ing a full diary. He says that it was of infinite service 
to him in learning to write prose — that the habit is 
easily acquired, and as soon as it becomes habitual, the 
day is no more complete without it than it is complete 
without a cold bath and regular meals. He observes 
that a diary need not be a dreary chronicle of one's 
movements; it should aim rather at giving a salient ac- 

87 



A CONGLOMERATE 

count of some particular episode ; a walk, a book, a con- 
versation. He affirms, what every one that has kept a 
diary knows to be true, "That it is a singularly delight- 
ful thing to look at old diaries to see how one was occu- 
pied, say, ten years ago ; what one was reading, the peo- 
ple one was meeting, one^s earlier point of view. * * * 
It has the immense advantage of developing style; the 
subjects are ready to hand ; and one may learn by diariz- 
ing the art of sincere and frank expression." 

The journal kept by the historian Gibbon contained, 
along with some learned and argumentative dissextations, 
an account of his domestic and private life, his amuse- 
ments, his engagements, even his rambles, with all his 
reflections that turn upon subjects which are personal to 
himself. He noted all that he learned from observation 
or conversation. He also related everything pertinent 
to the most important part of his studies — and recorded 
his digested judgment upon the author and his produc- 
tion. 

Petrarch is regarded as one of the greatest names of 
modern Europe. It has been said of him that "his emi- 
nent services to mankind as one of the restorers of 
learning, exhibit the union, which pertains to the high- 
est intellects alone, of the imaginative with the prac- 
tical." 

"A prey to useful or distressing cares," says Petrarch, 
"We are tormented by the present, the past and the 
future; and, as if we feared we should not be miserable 
enough, we join to the evil we suffer the remembrance of 
a former distress; and the apprehension of some future 
calamity. * * * q^^, jjfg might be gay and happy 



LITERARY PURSUITS 

if we would, but we eagerly seek subjects of affliction 
to rend it irksome and melancholy. * * * The dis- 
course of the wise and the study of good books are the 
best remedies I know of. * * * What gratitude do 
we not owe to those great men who, though dead many 
ages before us, live with us by their works; discourse 
with us, are our masters and guides, and serve us as 
pilots in the navigation of life when our vessel is agi- 
tated without ceasing by the storms of our passions." 

More than thirty years ago the brilliant literary career 
of a celebrated Englishman was terminated by his death. 
His versatility was marvelous. He was novelist, drama- 
tist, poet, politician, essayist. He had been commended 
for his extraordinary "plasticity of mind and practical 
insight; his freshness of thought, brilliancy of invention 
and breadth and variety of portraiture." The produc- 
tions of his fecund brain have been a source of exquisite 
delight on both sides of the Atlantic. We refer to Lord 
Lytton. This eminent man ventured into what was 
then, so far as we know, an untrodden field — that of 
Literary Therapeutics : 

"People repeat vaguely that books are the medicine of 
the mind. Yes; but to apply the medicine is the thing. 

"I have known some people in great sorrow fly to a 
novel, or the last light book in fashion. One might as 
well take a rose-draught for the plague! Light read- 
ing does not do when the heart is really heavy. I am 
told that Goethe, when he lost his son, took to study, a 
science that was new to him. Ah ! Goethe was a physi- 
cian who knew what he was about. In a great grief 
like that you cannot tickle and divert the mind; you 

89 



A CONGLOMERATE 

must wrench it away, abstract, absorb, bury it in an 
abyss, hurry it into a labyrinth. Therefore, for the 
irremediable sorrows of middle life and old age, I recom- 
mend a strict chronic course of science and hard reason- 
ing — counter-irritation. Bring the brain to act upon 
the heart. 

"For the loss of fortune, the dose should be applied 
less directly to the understanding. I would administer 
something elegant and cordial. For as the heart is 
crushed and lacerated by a loss in the affections, so it 
is rather the head that aches and suffers by the loss of 
money. Here we find the higher class of poets a very 
valuable remedy. 

"For hypochondria and satiety, what is better than a 
brisk alterative course of travels — especially early, out- 
of-the-way, marvelous, legendary travels! How they 
freshen up the spirits ! How they take you out of the 
humdrum yawning state you are in. 

"When some one sorrow, that is yet reparable, gets 
hold of your mind like a monomania — when you think, 
because heaven has denied you this or that, on which 
you had set your heart, that all your life must be a 
blank — Oh! then diet yourself well on biography — the 
biography of good and great man." 

When Carlyle, in the process of writing the "'French 
Revolution," found that the first volume had been burned 
by mistake, and that it must needs be rewritten, he read 
Marryat's novels for three weeks to restore his equanim- 
ity.^ 

^ Pryde. 

90 



LITEEARY PURSUITS 

The humanizing effect of literature is unquestioned. 
As a grand exemplification of this fact the case of Sir 
Walter Scott has been cited. It is affirmed of Sir Walter 
that "his fame and knowledge ripened the innate virtues 
of his character, and made him more sympathetic, more 
sociable, more genial, more grandly simple. * * * 
The simplicity of his character was almost as wonderful 
as his matchless genius." 

It will not be denied that mental labor and literary 
pursuits defer mental decay and are conducive to lon- 
gevity. The truth of this oft-repeated assertion is exem- 
plified by those great patriarchs John Adams and 
Thomas Jefferson. The letters that passed between 
them when they were aged respectively ninety and eighty- 
two, prove the marvelous vigor and lucidity of their 
minds in extreme old day. 

I know of one instance, and there doubtless have been 
many, where a man owed his superiority to his misfor- 
tunes. In his day of abject poverty and isolation he had 
read and educated himself, and compared and thought 
much; indeed, it is not unusual for the intellectual 
energies to grow stronger in calamity, if we give cre- 
dence to history and biography. It was so with the blind 
Milton. "The remembrance of early reading came over 
his dark and lonely path like the moon emerging from 
the clouds.'' 

Cultivation consists in an acquaintance with all the 
best productions of the human mind; but we must not 
disregard the observation of Channing, that intellectual 
culture does not consist alone in accumulating informa- 

91 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

tion but also "in building up a force of thought which 
may be turned at will on any subject on which we are 
called to pass judgment." 

It has been said that culture makes a greater differ- 
ence between man and man than nature has made be- 
tween man and brutes. This fact may have inspired 
Lord Lytton to exclaim: "How little the nobleness of 
aspect depends on symmetry of feature, or the mere 
proportion of form! What dignity robes the man who 
is filled with a lofty thought !" 

Walter Pater thus defines and illustrates the aim of 
all culture: "To withdraw the thoughts for a little 
while from the mere machinery of life, to fix them on 
the great and universal passions of men, the most gen- 
eral and interesting of their occupations, and the entire 
world of nature, on the operations of the elements and 
the appearances of the visible universe, on storm and 
sunshine, on the revolution of the seasons, on cold and 
heat, on loss of friends and kindred, on injuries and re- 
sentments, on gratitude and hope, on fear and sorrow. 
To witness this spectacle with appropriate emotions is 
the aim of all culture." 

Montaigne affirms that the inquisition into great and 
occult things is very pleasant, even to him who acquires 
nothing by it but the reverence and awe of judging it. 
A more modern writer,* however, insists that the 
fullest enjoyment is never derived from books till we 
have ventilated the ideas obtained from them — that a 
man never knows anything until he has taught it in 
some way, it may be orally, or it may be by writing a 

* Mathews. 

92 



LITEEARY PURSUITS 

book. He asserts that "Solitary reading will enable a 
man to stuff himself with information; butj without 
writing or conversation, his mind will become like a 
pond without an outlet, a mass of unhealthy stagnation." 
It was said that the life of Ampere, the celebrated 
French historian and traveler, was one of the best 
adapted for culture that could be led by a human being. 
From his childhood he lived in the kind of society which 
is at the same time the best informed and the most per- 
fectly communicative. "His time was so beautifully 
divided between acquisition and communication that 
the blue mold of ignorance could never grow upon him, 
and his intellectual armor could never be rusted by re- 
serve. He was neither, on the one hand, the silent 
scholar, incapable of imparting what he knows, nor, on 
the other, the copious chatterer, whose words were empty 
and vain." 

The miseries endured by the uncultured portion of 
humanity are vividly depicted by George Eliot : "When 
uncultured minds, confined to a narrow range of per- 
sonal experience, are under the pressure of continued 
misfortune, their inward life is apt to become a per- 
petually repeated round of sad and bitter thoughts; the 
same words, the same scenes are revolved over and over 
again, the same mood accompanies them — the end of 
the year finds them as much what they were at the be- 
ginning as if they were machines set to a recurrent 'series 
of movements." 

Another author contrasts the conforts and discom- 
forts of cultured and uncultured man in the most strik- 
ing manner. "The soul of the man of no culture is tied 

93 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

to the present, and to that small part of the earth's sur- 
face on which he moves in his daily rounds. The accom- 
plished man of letters sits in his quiet study with a clear 
head, sympathetic heart and lively fancy. * * * 
His soul grows and extends itself until it lives in every 
region of the earth and in every by-gone age. * * * 
Though originally a frail mortal creature, he arises 
toward the God-like attributes of omnipotence and 
omniscience.'' 

When one has attained the age of fifty years, having 
given assiduous attention to his profession or occupa- 
tion, we conceive that nothing would be more delightful 
than to pass the concluding period of his life in lettered 
and social ease and in retirement. 



94 



CHAPTER IX. 



ACCUMULATION-. 



We do not need the assurance of Seneca that it is a 
great calamity to have a mind anxious about future 
things ; and it is the imperative duty, as it should be the 
pleasure of every man, by honest effort, to accumulate a 
sufficiency of means for the decent support of himself 
and family, at the present time and in the future, having 
regard for the possible vicissitudes of life. The vener- 
able and distinguished John Bigelow had evidently 
arrived at this point when he wrote to his friend: "I 
do not wish to devote any more of my life to mere money- 
getting. I mean to live on what I have, be it more or 
less.'^ We know that poverty, especially when accom- 
panied with extravagant tastes and habits, is a great 
evil. It was said of the poor of France that they were 
compelled to live upon hope and the mists of the Seine ; 
and a celebrated Frenchman was led to remark: "I 
fear God, yet more I fear the hell of poverty. To be 
destitute is the last depth of misfortune in society as 
now constituted. I am a man of my time; I respect 
money. * * * j gpend my life in watching people 
die not of their disease, but of another bad and incur- 
able complaint — the want of money." We must all ad- 
Do 



A CONGLOMERATE 

mit, however, that sometimes it is not poverty, so much 
as covetous desires, that causes sorrow. The next best 
thing to being able to buy an automobile is to have the 
ability to do without one with composure — without fret- 
ting and without repining. And poverty oftentimes 
has its compensations, as illustrated by the case of a 
bride, who referring to her young husband, declared 
that an honorable poverty had been his safeguard and 
had handed him over to her, unsoiled by the loose life 
which ruins so many young men. 

We should be satisfied at first with the comfort and 
necessities of life, and let the luxuries come later; and 
avoid following the example of Shenstone, a country 
gentleman of elegant taste, 'Vho expended his means 
and ruined himself in making his patrimony the most 
beautiful of landscape gardens." We believe that he is 
the happy man who sees his condition in life constantly 
and gradually, though it may be slowly, improving. It 
was the opinion of Lord Lytton that, placed between the 
two extremes of life, the tradesman "who ventures not 
beyond his means, and sees clear books and sure gains, 
with enough of occupation to give healthful excitement, 
enough of fortune to greet each new-born child without 
a sigh, might be envied alike by those above and those 
below his state." La Bruyere complains that obscure 
citizens, simply because they are rich, have the audacity 
to swallow in one morsel the living of a hundred fam- 
ilies, and declares that he would not choose to be either 
so poor or so rich, but would find refuge in moderation. 

The pushing of thrift to the loathsome excess of an 
inhuman avarice is always to be deplored. When avarice 

96 



ACCUMULATION 

has once gained a strong hold upon a man, as time passes 
on it becomes more and more intense; indeed it may 
be said that all lasting passions grow with man's growth. 
The miser's life is a constant exercise of every human 
faculty in the service of personality. He thirsts for 
gold as devils thirst for the dew of heaven; in wealth 
he makes himself miserable by the fear of poverty. He 
is an extremely covetous person, a sordid wretch — 

"As some lone miser, visiting his store, 
Bends at his treasure, counts, recounts it o'er." 

A miser can usually be detected by his countenance — 
his facial expression. If we may be permitted to do so 
we wish here to make a brief digression : We have many 
illustrious examples of digressive composition. "Digres- 
sions/' saj'S Sterne, in Tristram Shandy, "incontestably, 
are the sunshine; they are the life, the soul of reading; 
take them out of this book, for instance, you might as 
well take the book along with them : one cold eternal win- 
ter would reign in every page of it; restore them to the 
writer; he steps forth like a bridegroom, bids all hail; 
brings in variety, and forbids the appetite to fail." 

De Quincey was the great apostle of digression. 
"Whatever he announces to be under discussion, the title 
to one of his papers affords no key to its contents. 
* * * Like the writer on Ireland, who begins his 
chapter ^Of the Snakes of Ireland/ by saying There 
are no snakes in Ireland,' De Quincey contents himself 
often with the barest allusion to his theme, and strays 
into a thousand tempting by-paths, leading off whole 
leagues therefrom, * * * winding like a river at 

97 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

its own sweet will, * * * j^^^ profoundly indiffer- 
ent whether at the end of his disquisition he will have 
made any progress toward the goal for which he started. 
Like a fisherman he throws out his capacious net into 
the ocean of learning and sweeps in everything, how- 
ever miscellaneous or motley its character."^ 

And now to proceed. Physiognomy, or the art or 
science of discerning the character of the mind or the 
predominent temper and disposition, by the external 
signs of the countenance has, in our day, almost become 
a lost art. Saint-Simon, the great memoir writer of 
France, was the prince of physiognomists. His country 
has been regarded as the richest in memoirs of any in 
the world, and he was superior to all others in this de- 
partment of literature. He was passionately fond of 
observing and dissecting character by studying the 
countenance, and he was thus enabled to penetrate the 
mysteries of any intrigue. It was said that when once 
Saint-Simon falls furiously upon any individual, he 
does not release his hold; he tramples his victim under 
foot. He is an almost unique example of a man who 
has acquired great literary fame entirely by posthumous 
publications. His extraordinary genius for character 
drawing is unsurpassed, and it is said that the interest 
of the memoirs is one of constant surprise at the novel 
and adroit use of word and phrase. His skill as a physi- 
ognomist was applied in discerning the character and 
fathoming the hearts of courtiers and others of his time. 
He did not deign to study the countenance of the miser, 
but used his art upon those high in authority. But 

^ Mathews. 

98 



ACCUMULATION 

other physiognomists have detected the miser by the 
signs of his countenance. They have observed that rigid 
nostrils betray a certain shallowness; that the nose of 
a miser never quivers, it is tightly set like his lips; 
everything in his face is as close shut as himself. There 
is something vulpine about the eyes which seem to have 
the yellow metallic glitter of the coin over which he 
broods. Hallam declares that Plautus first exposed upon 
the stage the wretchedness of avarice, the punishment 
of a selfish love of gold, not only in the life of pain it 
has cost to acquire it, but in the terrors that it brings, 
in the disordered state of mind which is haunted as by 
some mysterious guilt, by the consciousness of secret 
wealth. 

We must not fail to distinguish, however, between 
avarice and that severe and rigid economy rendered 
necessary by one's circumstances in life; there is some- 
thing absolutely sublime in the conduct of a man who, 
in an exigency, practices self-denial, especially if it con- 
tinues for any considerable period. Strong instances of 
self-denial operate powerfully on our minds; and the 
observation is true that a man who has no wants has 
obtained great freedom, and firmness, and even dignity. 
There are instances where the most rigid economy is 
the instrument of virtue — especially where it has been 
induced by greatness of purpose. 

An ancient writer defined luxury to be a tumor and 
inflammation caused by riches, and declared that it 
makes a man so soft that it is hard to please him and 
easy to trouble him — ^so that his pleasure at last becomes 
a burden. Another affirms that luxury was the last of 

99 



A CONGLOMERATE 

all vices that prevailed over mankind; for after riches 
had been hoarded up, they rotted, as it were, into luxury. 

In our own era, except in certain localities, money is 
the one all powerful force; ours is pre-eminently the 
epoch when money is the law-giver politically, if not so- 
cially; and unfortunately, it is oftentimes regarded as 
the measure of public capacity. These facts and condi- 
tions warrant the conclusion that the imperfectibility 
of government and governmental institutions is no less 
obvious than the imperfectibility of man himself. 

The philosophy of Rude, the great French sculptor, 
about wealth, is not in harmony with that which gen- 
erally prevails at the present day, but it is logical and 
intensely interesting. He says: ^'I have not yet met 
with rich people who consider themselves rich enough; 
and it has always been so, if we may believe the writings 
of the ancients. And why do men desire riches, if not 
to arrive at a state of contentment, at a feeling of satisfy- 
ing possession? But if every man, whatever may be 
his wealth, has never enough, according to his own 
opinion, it is proved that this feeling of contentment 
does not depend upon riches in themselves. Can I hesi- 
tate between the two lines of conduct before me? One 
of the two would be to acquire a great fortune, a very 
difficult thing to do, and I am not certain of success; 
if I succeeded, I should be no better off ; for the example 
of all the ages proves that the more a man has, the more 
he desires to have. The other line of conduct would be 
to try to consider myself rich enough as I am, which 
costs infinitely less anxiety, and disturbs nothing in my 
way of life." As a result of this process of reasoning, 

100 



ACCUMULATION 

Eude made his choice of contended mediocrity, and ad- 
hered to it. He was certainly an extraordinary char- 
acter. He cared nothing about notoriety and his bi- 
ographer observes that "In an age when men struggle 
frantically for the means of luxury, and use their utmost 
ingenuity to advance in the world's estimation by plot- 
ting for the praise of coteries and newspapers, Eude 
concerned himself neither about wealth, nor about no- 
toriety. * * * You may often find artists and men 
of letters who are content to suffer poverty that they 
may pursue a beloved occupation, but the indifference 
to notoriety is rarer." 

We can hardly expect the present generation to accept 
and adopt, with enthusiasm, the principle enunciated 
by Socrates that to want nothing is divine — to want as 
little as possible is the nearest possible approach to the 
divine life. However, Jacquemont declared that he 
would rather not be rich, that in his present condition 
he had more sympathy with men and things and ex- 
claimed, "What an admirable receipt for happiness, to 
know how to do without things !" The story of the sol- 
itary life of Alexander Selkirk on the island of Juan 
Fernandez exemplifies in the highest degree the manner 
in which our internal resources increase with our ex- 
ternal wants. Eichard Steele deduces from this story a 
great universal truth "That he is happiest who confines 
his wants to natural necessities; and that he who goes 
further in his desires, increases his wants in proportion 
to his acquisitions." Selkirk lived four years and four 
months on the island. We have been both instructed and 
charmed by the narrative of Mr. Steele. He says: "I 

101 



A COI^GLOMEEATE 

had the pleasure frequently to converse with the man 
soon after his arrival in England, in the year 1711. It 
was a matter of great curiosity to hear him, as he is a 
man of good sense, give an account of the different revo- 
lutions in his own mind in that long solitude. * * * 
He grew dejected, languid and melancholy, scarce able 
to refrain from doing himself violence, till by degrees, 
by the force of reason, and frequent reading the Scrip- 
tures, and turning his thoughts upon the study of navi- 
gation, after the space of eighteen months he grew thor- 
oughly reconciled to his condition. Wlien he had made 
the conquest, the vigor of his health, disengagement 
from the world, a constant, cheerful, serene sky, and a 
temperate air, made his life one continued feast, and his 
being much more joyful than it had before been irksome. 
* * * This manner of life grew so exquisitely pleas- 
ant that he never had a moment heavy upon his hands; 
his nights were untroubled and his days joyous from 
the practice of temperance and exercise. It was his 
manner to use stated hours and places for exercises of 
devotion, which he performed aloud in order to keep 
up the faculties of speech, and to utter himself with 
greater energy. * * * Selkirk frequently bewailed 
his return to the world, which could not, he said, with 
all its enjoyments, restore him to the tranquillity of his 
solitude. * * * rp^ ^gg j^^g Q^j^ expression: ^I am 
now worth eight hundred pounds, but shall never be so 
happy as when I was not worth a farthing.' " 

In this connection we should listen to the words of 
wisdom from the pen of our old friend, the quaint and 
lovable Izaak Walton — for every one that reads him 

102 



ACCUMULATION 

ioves him. "The sleepy smile that lies so benignly on 
his sweet and serious diction" is ever present. 

"Nay, let me tell you, there be many that have forty 
times our estate that would give the greatest part of it 
to be healthful and cheerful like us. I have a rich 
neighbor who is always so busy that he has no leisure 
to laugh; the whole business of his life is to get money, 
and more money, that he may still get more and more 
money; he is still drudging on, and says that Solomon 
says, The diligent hand maketh rich,' and it is true in- 
deed but he considers not that it is not in the power of 
riches to make a man happy for it was wisely said by a 
man of great observation, That there be as many 
miseries beyond riches as on this side them^ * * * 
Diogenes went to a county fair and saw many things. 
He said to his friend, ^Lord, how many things are there 
in this world of which Diogenes hath no need.' * * * 
Content will never dwell but in a meek and quiet soul. 
* * * Eiches without meekness and thankfulness do 
not make any man happy. * * * j ^m IqH jq^^ 
scholar, I have heard a grave divine say that God has 
two dwellings : one in heaven, and the other in a meek 
and thankful heart." 

The golden rule in respect to one's expenditures is to 
live within one's income. Cato's enmity to Carthage 
was so intense that he never gave his opinion in the 
senate upon any other point whatever without adding 
these words: "And my opinion is that Carthage should 
be destroyed." The rule above enunciated is so funda- 
mental and is of such transcendent importance that it. 
would be well, after the manner of Cato, to repeat on 

103 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

every important occasion, mentally if not audibly: 
"That every man should live within his income/' This 
rule is the basic principle which_, if possible, should 
never be disregarded. A wise Hollander observes that a 
man should divide his estate in three parts: upon one- 
third he should live, another third he should lay up for 
his children, and the last he should lay by for accident. 
In Holland when any one lives up to his income he is 
looked on as a madman. It was with much pride and 
satisfaction, amounting almost to enthusiasm, that 
Jacquemont, even when he was poorest, could write to 
his father, "I have had the admirable talent of remain- 
ing within my budget." 

Gibbon, the historian, spent many delightful years at 
Lausanne. He declared that if every day passed there 
had not been equally soft and serene, that not a day, 
not a moment, had occurred in which he had repented 
of his choice. Immoderate wealth did not fall to his 
share, yet he possessed a decent affluence. He very truly 
observes that our importance in society is less a positive 
than a relative weight: "In London," he says, "I was 
lost in the crowd; I ranked with the first families of 
Lausanne, and my style of prudent expense enabled me 
to maintain a fair balance of reciprocal civilities." He 
congratulated himself upon the fact that the golden 
mediocrity of his fortune had contributed to fortify his 
application. He declared that according to the scale of 
Switzerland, "I am a rich man; and I am indeed rich, 
since my income is superior to my expenses, and my ex- 
pense is equal to my wishes." 

We should not endeavor "to keep up with the pro- 
104 



ACCUMULATION 

cession/' and rival our more opulent neighbors in osten- 
tatious expenditures. One should live within one's in- 
come cost what it may. The contrary course will, sooner 
or later, lead to disastrous results — to distress and hu- 
miliation. The facile pen of a brilliant Irishman^ 
has drawn a vivid picture of the terrible consequences 
that may result from living beyond one's means. 

"In the spirit of imprudence, which is often mistaken 
for romance, our young counselor enters with some 
dowexless beauty into an indissoluble copartnership of 
the heart. A pretty pauper is almost sure to be a 
prodigal. ^Live like yourself is soon my lady's word. 
Shall Mrs. O'Brallaghan, the wife of a mere attorney, 
provokingly display her amorphous ankle as she ascends 
the crimson steps of her carriage, with all the airs of 
fashionable impertinence; and is the wife of a coun- 
selor in full practice, though she may have ridden 
double at her Aunt Deborah's, to be unprovided with 
that ordinary convenience of persons of condition? 
After a faint show of resistance the conjugal injunc- 
tion is obeyed. But is it in an obscure street that the 
coachman is to bring his clattering horses to an in- 
stantaneous stand? Is he to draw up in an alley, and 
to wheel round in a cul-de-sac? And then there is such 
a bargain to be had of a house in Merrion Square. A 
house in Merrion Square is accordingly purchased, and 
a bond, with warrant of attorney for confessing judg- 
ment thereon, is passed for the fine. The lady discovers 

^ Shiel. It was said of Shiel that he was one of the great- 
est orators that Ireland, "affluent in eloquence," ever pro- 
duced. 

105 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

a taste in furniture, and the profits of four circuits are 
made oblations to vertu. The counselor is raised to the 
dignity of king's counsel, and his lady is initiated into 
the splendors of a vice-regal court. She is now thrown 
into the eddies of fashionable life ; and in order to afford 
evidence of her domestic propensities she issues cards 
to half the town with an intimation that she is ^at 
home/ 

"She has all the while been prolific to the full extent 
of Hibernian fecundity. 

"The counselor's sons swagger it with the choicest 
spirits of Kildare street; and the young ladies are ac- 
complished in all the multifarious departments of mu- 
sical and literary affectation. Quadrilles and waltzes 
shake the illuminated chambers with a perpetual con- 
cussion. The passer-by is arrested in his nocturnal 
progress by the crowd of brilliant vehicles before the 
door, while the blaze of light streaming from the win- 
dows and the sound of the harp and the tabor, and the 
din of extravagance, intimate the joyance that is go- 
ing on within. 

"But where is the counselor all this while? He sits 
in a sequestered chamber, like a hermit in the forest of 
Comus, and pursues his midnight labors by the light of 
a solitary taper, scarcely hearing the din of pleasure 
that rolls above his head. 

"The wasteful splendors of the drawing room, and 
the patient drudgery of the library, go on for years. 
The counselor is at the top of the forensic, and his lady 
stands upon the summit of the fashionable world. At 
length death knocks at the door. He is seized by a 

106 



ACCUMULATION 

sudden illness. The loud knock of the judges peals 
upon his ear, but the double tap of the attorney is heard 
no more. He makes an unavailing effort to attend the 
courts, but is hurried back to his house and laid in his 
bed. His eyes now begin to open to the realities of his 
condition. In the loneliness and silence of the sick 
man^s chamber a train of reflection presents itself to his 
mind, which his former state of professional occupancy 
had tended to exclude. He takes a deathbed survey of 
his circumstances; looks upon the future, and by the 
light of that melancholy lamp that burns beside him, and 
throws its shadowy gleams upon his fortunes, he sees 
himself at the close of a most prosperous life, without a 
groat. 

"The sense of his own folly, and the anticipated desti- 
tution of his family, settle at his heart. He has not 
adopted even the simple and cheap expedient of insur- 
ing his life, or by some miserable negligence has let 
the insurance drop. What is to become of his wife and 
children ? 

From the sources of his best affections, and of his 
purest pleasures, he drinks that portion, that aqua 
Tofana of the mind, which renders all the expedients 
of art without avail. Despair sits ministering beside 
him with her poisoned chalice and bids defiance to Colles 
and to Cheyne. His family gather about him. The last 
consolations of religion are given, amid heartbroken 
sobs; and as he raises himself, and stretches forth his 
hand to receive the final rite, he casts his eyes upon the 
wretches who surround him and shrinks back at the 
sight. It is in the midst of a scene like this and when 

107 



A CONGLOMERATE 

the hour of agony is at hand that the loud and heartless 
voice of official insolence echoes from chamber to cham- 
ber, and after a brief interval the dreadful certainty 
of which the unhappy man had but too prescient a 
surmise is announced. 

"The sheriff's officers have got in; his majesty's writ 
of fieri facias is in the process of execution; the sanctu- 
aries of death are violated by the peremptory ministers 
of the law, and the blanket and the silk gown are seized 
together; and this is the conclusion of a life of opulence 
and of distinction, and, let me add, of folly as well as 
fame. 

"After having charmed his country by his eloquence 
and enlightened it by his erudition, he breathes his last 
sigh amid the tears of his children, the reproaches of his 
creditors and a bailiff's jests." 



108 



CHAPTER X. 



REFLECTIOxN^. 



It has been truly said that education and knowledge, 
the power to think and enjoy the thought of others^ has 
long since transformed a cottage into a palace. It is 
not every one, however* who possesses the gift of medi- 
tation. 

The ancient philosophers were agreed that the highest 
happiness is to be found in contemplation and specula- 
tive thought. One of them declares that reflection calms 
the ardor of the blood and swallows up all the silly illu- 
sions of man; another avers that the true and allowable 
luxury of the soul consists in contemplation or think- 
ing. In our own day, however, we find many more peo- 
ple, who, in order to be happy, must live upon the breath 
of popular applause. It is said that the rude man is 
contented if he sees something going on, the man of more 
refinement must be made to feel, the man entirely re- 
fined desires to reflect. Thomas A. Kempis, the great 
German devotional writer, whose "De Imitatione 
Christi" has been translated into every civilized lan- 
guage, including Hebrew, and a more popular work 
even than Bunyan's Pilgrim^s Progress, gives for the 
world this adjuration : "Seek a convenient time to re- 

109 



A CONGLOMERATE 

tire into thyself; and meditate often upon God's loving 
kindnesses/' 

Reflection is conducive to tranquillity of mind. 

"Sweet are the thoughts that savor of content. 
The quiet mind is richer than a crown." 

It fortifies one against the calamities of life ; it aids in 
the solution of intricate questions affecting one's well- 
being which seem at first insoluble. 

It is marvelous what one hour of cool, calm reflec- 
tion will accomplish. We do not refer to that violent 
and intense meditation so well illustrated by the cat. 
It has been said, and we know it to be true, that a cat 
on the watch is as motionless as death stationed at its 
place of observation, and that neither hunger nor thirst 
can draw it away from its meditations. Of course a 
Turk could derive but little benefit from reflection be- 
cause in him meditation almost invariably induces 
sleep. 

Most of us spend a great part of our lives in clearing 
our minds of the notions that sprang up unchecked dur- 
ing our early years. By reflection we are enabled to 
get rid of many preconceived notions that are erroneous ; 
for example, we become more tolerant, abandon all 
thought of making other men in our own image — and 
ultimately conceive that drunkenness is a disease to be 
cured rather than a crime to be punished. 

It is said that when Perreyve, the eminent French- 
man, ceased to be able to read and write, he was de- 
lighted almost to the point of enthusiasm to find that 
he could still derive happiness from mere thinking; and 

110 



EEFLECTION 

he had never before so completely realized the value of 
the gift of thought. A celebrated English moralist de- 
clared that what some would call idleness he would call 
the sweetest part of his life, and that was his thinking. 
Sir William Grant averred that his mind was so secure 
in its reflection that thunder, which breaks other men^s 
slumbers, rocked him to sleep. When Pascal's books 
were taken from him to save his health, injured by ex- 
cessive study, he supplied their place by the depth and 
force of his personal reflection. We know of an eminent 
man now far advanced in years who declares that he 
lives happily with himself and his memories. 

It was the theory of Victor Jacquemont, the famous 
French traveler and naturalist, that a man ought to exer- 
cise himself continually in conquering his own desires, 
and that when he had to suffer he ought to find within 
himself an amount of endurance sufficient to meet the 
suffering.^ 

Charles Sumner appreciated the benefits and delights 
of refiection. When his name was first mentioned for 
the United States senate and he was importuned to be- 
come a candidate, he hesitated, because, as he said, the 
office would take from him all opportunity of study and 
meditation. 

A renowned writer^ declared a long time ago that 
reflecting men in all ages have a philosophy. With the 
educated Greeks and Eomans philosophy was religion. 
That the vulgar belief, under whatever name it may be, 
is never the belief of those who have leisure for reflec- 
tion. That the vulgar rich and vulgar poor are im- 

^Hamerton. ^ Richard Steel. 
Ill 



A CONGLOMERATE 

mersed in sense: the man of reflection tries to emerge 
from it. 

It is our deliberate opinion that the prevailing ten- 
dency is to read too much and to think too little. We 
cannot recur too frequently to the words of Confucius: 
"Learning, undigested by thought, is labor lost ; thought, 
unassisted by learning, is perilous. It was said of a 
certain individual, "he was communicative enough, but 
nothing was distinct in his mind. How could it be 
otherwise ? He had never spared time to think ; all was 
employed in reading.^^ 

We have said on a former occasion, and now repeat, 
that reading and thinking should, in a certain sense, go 
hand in hand — one duly proportioned to the other, and 
so that each may be the complement of the other. 

There may be dissipation in reading — reading too 
much. Dire results have been recorded which were at- 
tributable to this cause; and, on this subject, we should 
profit by the experience and observation of others. It 
has been declared possible for one to lay so many books 
at the top of his head that his brains could not move; 
or, in the language of another, "there are readers whose 
wit is so smothered under the v/eight of their accumula- 
tions as to be absolutely powerless.^^ On account of this 
literary dissipation the digestive organs have been known 
to become "worn and macerated by the relentless flagel- 
lations of the brain." 

That it will be found more nutritious to digest a page 
than to devour a volume will hardly be denied; and no 
one will question the truth of the observation of Ma- 
caulay that it is not by overturning libraries, but by re- 

113 



EEFLECTION 

peatedly perusing and intently contemplating a few 
great models, that the mind is best disciplined. 

It was the complaint of Burke that calamity is un- 
happily the usual season of reflection, and that the pride 
of man will not often suffer reason to have any scope 
until it can be no longer of service. 

We must all feel how difficult it is abruptly to pass 
from the buzz of men to the meditations of the closet. 
'No man should make reflection his whole life's business. 
De Quincey affirmed that it was his disease to meditate 
too much and to observe too little, and the remedies he 
sought were to force himself into society and to keep 
his understanding in continual activity upon matters of 
science. It has been truly observed that contemplation 
generates; action propagates. Without the first, the 
latter is defective : without the last, the first is abortive 
and embryous. We have read of one who buried him- 
self in the depths of his own reflections, while he ex- 
hibited externally a semblance of simplicity and mod- 
esty, affecting the pursuit of letters and a passion for 
poetry to veil his real purposes. But as a rule the 
human countenance does not dissemble. It is easy to 
discern when the face is stamped with the sadness of 
constant meditation — "all sicklied o'er with the pale cast 
of thought." We believe that an ideal life is one com- 
pounded of work and meditation, of solitude and so- 
ciety. 

The incalculable benefits derived from reflection, not 
only to individuals but to the nation, is illustrated by 
reference to the "Augustan age," the era so illustrious 
in Eoman history. This epoch, with which the great 

113 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

names of Vergil, Horace, Ovid and Livy are indissolnbly 
associated, covered a period of less than fifty years. It 
was distinguished for its splendid attainments, more 
especially in literature. It is not a matter of surprise 
that the Romans in later times looked back to the age 
of Augustus with great complacency, as the most pros- 
perous and the most distinguished of their annals. The 
name of the "Augustan age^* has been specially applied 
to it in modern times. And the title itself, apart from 
its special application to Rome, when applied to the 
literature of any nation denotes the supposed period of 
its highest state of purity and refinement. Thus the 
age of Louis XIV has been called the "Augustan 
age," of French literature, and that of Queen Anne the 
Augustan age of English literature. The giving of this 
title to certain epochs in modern history is regarded as 
the highest compliment to their glory. The philosophic 
historian accounts for the intellectual and literary su- 
periority of the Augustan age of Rome, when com- 
pared with other epochs of the world's history, by the 
fact that it was singularly and emphatically an era of 
rest for reflection and self-control. 



114 



CHAPTER XI. 

HOME. 

We have referred in another place to home — its per- 
fect trust and truth — its simple holiness, and its ex- 
quisite happiness. It has been truthfully and beautifully 
said that home is to the world what conscience is to the 
human mind. 

We know of an eminent man who declared that he re- 
garded his home as a snug nest for content and contem- 
plation, but one within which the wings of action and 
ambition could not long lie folded. 

It has been said by an American writer that no one 
more thoroughly appreciates a home than an English- 
man — that if he has one he can easily forego society, 
that even the solitude of the wilderness has no terrors 
for him, and he is happy on the very borders of civiliza- 
tion. The same writer declares that the French language 
has no such words as comfort and home; this may be 
true, but if the French have not the words, they may 
have what those words represent in other languages, 
which is far more important. Indeed, the French in- 
sist that their homes are incomparable. Jacquemont 
says: "I do not conceal my opinion that the system of 
English life is nothing but a succession of errors, all 

115 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

fatal to happiness. They talk of home without ceasing; 
and this home which they like so much is the material 
side of their existence — their sofas and easy chairs. Our 
home, which we do not talk about, is in the heart. I 
tell them that the poor in our country have more pleas- 
ures, and pleasures sweeter and nobler, than the rich in 
theirs." Another eminent Frenchman^ writes in terms 
of high commendation of the American home. He says : 
"There is certainly no country in the world where the 
tie of marriage is so much respected as in America, or 
where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily 
appreciated. In Europe almost all the disturbances of 
society arise from the irregularities of domestic life. 
To despise the natural bonds and legitimate pleasures 
of home is to contract a taste for excesses, a restlessness 
of heart, and the evil of fluctuating desires. Agitated 
by the tumultuous passions which frequently disturb 
his dwelling, the European is galled by the obedience 
which the legislative powers of the state exact. But 
when the American retires from the turmoil of public 
life to the bosom of his family, he finds in it the image 
of order and of peace. There his pleasures are simple 
and natural; his joys are innocent and calm; and as he 
finds that an orderly life is the surest path .to happiness, 
he accustoms himself without difficulty to moderate his 
opinions as w^ell as his tastes. While the European en- 
deavors to forget his domestic troubles by agitating so- 
ciety, the American derives from his own home that 
love of order which he afterward carries with him into 
public affairs." 

^ De Tocqueville. 

116 



HOME 

We believe that there is much truth in the observa- 
tion of Pascal, that all of the unhappiness of men comes 
from a single thing, which is, that they have not the 
wisdom to remain in tranquillity at home. 



117 



CHAPTER XII. 



TRAVEL. 



It is a very important sanitary truth that a timely 
change of air and residence is beneficial. We can accept 
as true the observation of Mr. Carnegie as to the ad- 
vantages to be derived from a journey around the world. 
He says that the sense of the brotherhood of man — the 
unity of race — is very greatly strengthened thereby. 
For one sees that the virtues are the same in all lands 
and produce their good fruit. That the vices too are 
akin; and also that the motives which govern men and 
their actions and aims are very much the same all the 
world over. 

We recognize the fact that with some there is an in- 
stinct for permanence in the mind so strong that to 
leave the place of their abode for a long journey causes 
a feeling of depression and melancholy. But^, as a gen- 
eral rule, no people on earth have such vagabond habits 
as ourselves. It is said that the continental races never 
travel at all if they can help it ; nor does an Englishman 
ever think of stirring abroad, unless he has abundance 
of money to spare, or proposes to himself some definite 
advantage from the journey. English gentlemen some- 

118 



TEAVEL 

times regard a journey abroad as essential to the com- 
pletion of their education. It is a remarkable fact that 
very few men could ever have seen less of the world than 
Shakespeare saw. He never passed the boundaries of 
England. From Stratford to London is barely a hundred 
miles; and there is no evidence that he was ever fifty 
miles from the highway between these two points. 

The purposes of travel at the present day are mani- 
fold; some go upon business or with a specific end in 
view; others journey abroad because their neighbors 
have done so — as nothing affords greater pleasure and 
satisfaction than a consciousness of the fact that we are 
keeping up with the procession; a vast majority go to 
gratify curiosity and get rid of superfluous wealth. It 
was somewhat different in former times. Bacon declared 
that "travel in the younger sort is part of education; 
in the elder a part of experience." Another declares the 
purpose to be "to unite and distil into one's self the 
scattered perfections of several nations;" still another 
affirms that "traveling maketh a man sit still in his old 
age with satisfaction." It was the opinion of Lowell 
that "the wise man travels to discover himself; it is to 
find himself out that he goes out of himself and his 
habitual associations." 

It is said that the French people as a rule read no 
language but their own and refrain from foreign travel. 
There are some notable exceptions, however, as in the 
case of Ampere, the celebrated historian and archaeolo- 
gist, who developed a passion for travel during his first 
tour beyond the boundaries of France. Notwithstand- 
ing the right of expatriation is a natural and inherent 

119 



A CONGLOMERATE 

right of all people, indispensable to the enjoyment of 
the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, 
the Erench people as a whole shrink from its exercise. 

Traveling is without a doubt at least a temporary cure 
for taciturnity. One who at home practices an habitual 
silence and reserve in speaking, will, when conversing 
with a stranger in a distant land, unburden his mind 
with the utmost facility and volubility. He is relieved 
from the constraints of home and he is apt to feel that 
he is stepping not only into an unknov/n, but into a 
perfectly free world. 

We think the most of us would do much better to 
stay at home. 



120 



CHAPTEK XIII. 



SOLITUDE. 



Man is by nature a gregarious creature; and it has 
been truly said that he cannot isolate himself contin- 
uously without becoming either less or more than a man. 
"Prolonged solitude darkens and disenchants the love- 
liest objects^, and eventually brings terror even to the 
strongest heart." No man can afford to stagnate like 
a frog under a stone in a marsh. It has been well said 
that of all kinds of isolation, inward isolation is the most 
appalling. When a man persists in being unsociable it is 
his own loss — ^his continuous solitude makes him grumpy 
and morbid and, in short, makes him very unhappy; 
and it has been suggested that a shy man ought to take 
occasional dips into society from a "medical point of 
view as a man should take a cold bath." There are 
many illustrations of extreme unsociability; it is re- 
lated of a man, not unknown to fame, that even when 
he walked he drew his shoulders forward so as to be 
nearer himself. Goethe observes that even the most 
eminent man lives only by the day, and enjoys but a 
sorry entertainment when he throws himself too much 
back upon himself, and "neglects to grasp into the full- 
ness of the external world, where alone he can find nour- 

121 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

ishment for his growth, and at the same time a stand- 
ard for its measurement." The observation is true that 
in solitude we shrink up, and that no plant so much as 
man needs the sun and the air. It was the lament of 
one that if he had lived more with men, and less with 
dreams and books, he would have made his nature large 
enough to bear the loss of a single passion. "VYe can all 
readily concur with Arnold when he asserts that it is 
not in retirement and separation from the world but 
in the energies and activities of life, that the true means 
of man's highest culture is to be found. Burns confessed, 
in one of his letters, that his design in seeking society, 
was to fly from constitutional melancholy, and he de- 
clared that even in the house of social mirth "my gaiety 
is the madness of an intoxicated criminal under the 
hands of an executioner."^ Living in absolute retire- 
ment and isolation is sometimes attended with great in- 
convenience; Sydney Smith declared that his living in 
Yorkshire was so far out of the way, that it was actually 
twelve miles from a lemon. 

Solitude feeds great passions and it has been observed 
that it is the nature of solitude to make the passions 
calm on the surface — agitated in the deeps. 

We have been impressed by the truth and beauty of 
the observations of Hamerton : 

"We need society, and we need solitude also, as we 
need summer and winter, day and night, exercise and 
rest. * * * Let your rest be perfect in its season, 
like the rest of waters that are still. * * * Let your 
life be like that of the summer air, which has times of 

^ Mathews. 

122 



SOLITUDE 

noble energy and times of perfect peace. * * * 1 
value solitude for sincerity and peace, and for the better 
understanding of the thoughts that are truly ours. 
* * * In the world a man lives in his own age; in 
solitude, in all the ages. There is a strength that comes 
to us in solitude from that shadowy, awful presence that 
frivolous crowds repel. * * * There are natures that 
go to tlie streams of life in great cities as the hart goes 
to the water brooks; there are other natures that need 
the solitude of primeval forests and the silence of the 
Alps." 

A man eminent in literature^ divided his time be- 
tween society anl solitude; he believed this course to be 
essential to one's happiness and success in life. He 
said that he was extremely gregarious at the right time 
and place, but that he loved to spend a large part of 
the day alone. It was his belief that a perfect day con- 
sists in a solitary breakfast and a solitary morning, a 
single companion for luncheon and exercise — again some 
solitary hours; then he loved to dine in company, and, 
if possible, to spend the rest of the evening with two or 
three congenial persons. He declared, however, that 
"more and more, as life goes on, do I find the mixed 
company tiresome and the tete-a-tete delightful." 

Occasional solitude is of course indispensable to the 
student or writer. We do not mean that long continued 
isolation which, Plato says, has for its companion an 
overbearing austerity, nor the solitude which Epictetus 
defines to be the state of a helpless person. I have re- 
ferred in another place to the observation of Daniel 

^ Benson. 

123 



A CONGLOMERATE 

Webster: "I love this occasional solitude. I like to 
contemplate nature, and to hold communion unbroken 
by the presence of human beings. When thinking is to 
be done, one must, of course, be alone. Mo man knows 
himself who does not thus sometimes keep his own 
company." But even the intellectual life does not re- 
quire the complete abandonment of the world, but, as 
Hamerton suggests, it does require free and frequent 
spaces of labor in tranquil solitude, "retreats like those 
commanded by the church of Rome, but with more of 
study and less of contemplation." 

Rousseau was a man of genius but his morbidity is 
unquestioned. He had an innate contempt for men and 
his intense love of solitude justified the charge of sin- 
gularity and affectation. He says: "What period do 
you think I recall most frequently and most willingly 
in my dreams? Not the pleasures of my youth; they 
were too rare, too much mingled with bitterness, and 
are now too distant. I recall the period of my seclu- 
sion, of my solitary walks; of the fleeting but delicious 
days that I have passed entirely by myself, with my 
good and simple housekeeper, with my beloved dog, my 
old cat, with the birds of the field, the hinds of the 
forest, with all Nature, and her inconceivable Author. 
In getting up before the sun to contemplate its rising 
from my garden when a beautiful day was commencing, 
my first wish was that no letters or visits might come to 
disturb the charm." 

In our day and generation the duties of a lawyer are 
pre-eminently practical. There is but little in his pur- 
suit that is conducive to the development of either a 

124 



SOLITUDE 

taste or a talent for the poetic muse. The transition 
from the dull, unpoetical, unimaginative, characteristics 
of a legal document, to the poem expressing thought and 
feeling suitable to an excited and elevated imagination, 
would seem to be so great as to be practically impos- 
sible. An eminent wi'iter distinguishes between the 
poets muse and the muse of prose, showing the impas- 
sable gulf between them. He says : "The poet^s muse 
is like a mistress, whom we keep only while she is young 
and beautiful; the muse of prose is like a wife, whom 
we take during life, for better, for worse." This world 
would be much less interesting if it were entirely with- 
out anomalies and we are supplied with one by Tacitus. 
A lawyer, worn out with the intense labors of his pro- 
fession, and being, as it was alleged, of a poetical turn 
of mind, decided to entirely withdraw himself from the 
fatigues of the bar. He declares: "That woods and 
groves, and solitude itself, to me afford such delight, 
that I reckon it among the chief blessings of poetry that 
it is cultivated far from the noise and bustle of the 
world, without a client to besiege my doors, or a crim- 
inal to distress me with his tears and squalor. Free 
from those distractions, the poet retires to scenes of 
solitude, where peace and innocence reside, and there 
he treads on consecrated ground." 

According to the modern view, when Tacitus enu- 
meTates the essential deprivations of the poet, he cer- 
tainly deals in language of hyperbole. He says that it 
must not be forgotten, that the poet who would produce 
anything excellent, must bid farewell to the conversation 
of his friends ; that he must renounce not only the pleas- 

125 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

ures of Eome, but also the duties of social life; that he 
must retire, as the poets say, ^^to groves and grottoes/' 
in other words to solitude. 

It was the opinion of Goethe that a creation of im- 
portance could be produced only when an author isolated 
himself, and, referring to his own productions, said 
that those which had met with so much applause were 
children of solitude. 

There are men upon whom society grates. We have 
in our mind one who is affable and frank toward every 
one, but shuns fashionable society. 

^N'othing is more interesting than to observe and note 
the habits, whims and idiosyncrasies of men — especially 
eminent men. A distinguished Frenchman, being in 
sore distress, assured his friend that under the circum- 
stances nothing could be more agreeable to him than to 
retire to his solitude, beneath his noble trees on the 
banks of the Loire. He added : "If heaven be the over- 
ruling physician of the evils of the mind, nature is a 
sovereign remedy." 

We are told that Jacquemont bore solitude easily, and 
said that when alone his thoughts were full of tender- 
ness and sweetness. "A long, studious retreat, entirely 
separated from the men and things of Europe, would 
not, he thought, be painful to him. When he came to 
the test, he found the intellectual isolation easy to bear; 
but he suffered from the too long absence of those dear 
to him, and his imagination realized the distance from 
them too well." 

There is a singular fascination and charm about the 
life of De Tocqueville. It was the life of a philosopher. 

126 



SOLITUDE 

His style of writing is said to be an imitation of that of 
Mostesquieu ; however this may be, we know that it 
has a magic charm. It was said that "though his name 
was celebrated he knew the value of tranquillity, and 
loved the penumbra of personal obscurity, estimating 
public opinion at its just value, and taking fame for 
DO more than it is really worth." 

It was said of a great French statesman that he had 
no love of personal magnificence, no ambition even, but 
exerted great influence in public affairs, "^o important 
political step was ever taken without his being consulted, 
but he never went to court, and was seldom seen in his 
own drawing room.'^ 

Walter Scott frequently wandered far from home at- 
tended only by his dog, and would return late in the 
evening, having let hour after hour slip away among 
the "soft and melancholy wildernesses in the neighbor- 
hood.'^^ 

George Eliot and her husband lived for several years 
a life of what might be called almost absolute seclusion 
from the stirring movements of existence outside.* 

Lady Stanhope, a niece of William Pitt, the most 
prominent minister of his age, and his private secretary, 
was one of the most remarkable women of the genera- 
tion in which she lived. She sat at the head of his table 
and assisted in welcoming his guests, gracing the board 
with her "stately beauty and enlivening the company 
by her quickness and keenness of conversation," and she 
possessed at the same time a marvelous aptitude for 
business. After her uncle's death, life in London 

^ Lockhart's Life of Scott. * McCarthy. 

137 



A CONGLOMERATE 

ceased to have any charm for her, and she finally sought 
relief from lassitude in the fastnesses of Wales. 

Lowell's biographer-^ declares that Lowell, summer and 
winter, sat in his library among his books, seldom stir- 
ring abroad by day except for a walk, and by night yet 
more rarely. 

It was said of DeQuincey*^ that in thanking Provi- 
dence for the separate blessings of his childhood he 
singled out as worthy of special commemoration, that 
"he lived in a rustic solitude," and he declares that 
"the solitude which in this world appals or fascinates 
a child's heart, is but the echo of a far deeper solitude, 
through which already he has passed, and of another 
solitude, deeper still, through which he has to pass: 
reflex of one solitude — prefiguration of another." 

The most extraordinary fondness for solitude, amount- 
ing almost to self-annihilation, was exhibited by the 
great Duke of Leinster, "Ireland's only duke." He was 
the scion of a noble and historic family, the head of the 
house of Fitzgerald, the founder of which came to 
England with William the Conqueror in 1066. After 
having attained his majority, he returned to Ireland to 
take possession of his vast estates. It is stated that 
"his frank and open air, the unaffected urbanity of his 
manners, the kindness and cordiality which distinguished 
his address, and an expression of dignified good na- 
ture in his physiognomy" endeared him to the Irish 
people. Much was expected from the duke. Great tur- 
moil and unrest existed in Ireland on. account of the 
" Howells. * Mathev/s. 

128 



SOLITUDE 

excessive abuses of the local government. It was to him 
the people looked for the correction of these abuses and 
the pacification of Ireland. The historian of the period 
affirms that the great duke "voluntarily consigned him- 
self to oblivion." It required, indeed, that he should 
make a sort of effort to be forgotten. He at last suc- 
ceeded in sinking out of the recollection of the public. 
We are indebted to Mr. Shiel for his fascinating portrait- 
ure of this unique character. Shiel, himself, was no 
inconsiderable personage. His writings bespeak a cul- 
tivated taste; and one is charmed with the smoothness 
and grace of his diction. He declares in the first sen- 
tence of one of the chapters of his book: "I am an 
Irish barrister and go to the Leinster Circuit." As a 
speaker he commanded admiration and applause, and 
it was said of him that he was one of the greatest orators 
that Ireland, "affluent in eloquence," ever produced. 
Shiel says, referring to the great duke : 

"The first injudicious step which he adopted was the 
gale of his magnificent mansion in Merrion Square. It 
surpassed any private residence in London, and rather 
resembled the palace of a Venetian senator than the 
house of a British subject. That vast structure, upon 
which enormous sums had been expended by his father, 
was a perpetual intimation of the importance of the 
duke as long as it was called Leinster house; but after 
he had sold it to the Dublin society, and its original 
distinction was laid aside, a memorial of the family 
was wanting, which the duke's political conduct was 
not calculated to supply. * * * After having sold 

129 



A CONGLOMERATE 

his house,, the duke retired to the woods and solitudes of 
Carton. There he buried himself from the inspection, 
and gradually dropped out of the notice of the country. 
Having a turn for mechanics, he provided himself with 
a large assortment of carpenter's tools, and beguiled 
the tedium of existence with occupations by which his 
arms were put into requisition. There is not a better 
sawyer in the county of Kildare. As you wander 
through the forests on his demesne, you occasionally 
meet a vigorous young woodman, with his shirt sleeves 
tucked up to his shoulders, while he lays the ax to the 
trunk of some lofty tree that totters beneath his stroke. 
On approaching, you perceive a handsome face, flushed 
with exercise and health, and covered with perspira- 
tion. Should you enter into conversation with him, he 
will throw off a few jovial words between every descent 
of the ax; and, if he should pause in his task for his 
breath, will hail you in the tone of good-humored fel- 
lowship. He sets to his work again, while you pursue 
your path through the woodlands, and hear from the 
ranger of the forest that you have just seen no less a 
person than his grace himself. 

"In the midst of these innocent employments, the 
Duke of Leinster passes away a life which ought to be 
devoted to higher purposes. * * * He not only 
holds no place in the public estimation beyond that 
which virtues confer upon him, but he is without any 
influence at the Castle. * * * How different an im- 
pression would he have produced, had he taken the more 
active and intrepid part to which his fortunes appeared 
to invite him! The mock regality of a lord-lieutenant 

130 



SOLITUDE 

would fade at once before him. The representative of a 
nation would stand superior to the delegate of the king. 
* * * Nature had not mixed that mounting quality 
in his blood which teaches men to aspire to greatness, 
and makes them impatient of subordination.'^ 



131 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

BORROWING TROUBLE. 

We are too prone to borrow trouble and anticipate 
evils that may never appear. "The fear of ill exceeds the 
ill we fear." Mr. Lincoln once said that he never 
crossed Fox river, no matter how high the stream was, 
until he came to it. "It is madness," says Jeremy Tay- 
lor, "to make the present miserable by fearing it may 
be ill to-morrow. This day only is ours; we are dead 
to yesterday and we are not born to the morrow." We 
should give ourselves the full benefit of the present time, 
but many of us, if we examine our own thoughts, will 
find them occupied with the past and the future, ig- 
noring the present. The truth of the observation of 
Pascal is evident when he declares "That the present is 
never our end; the past and present are our means; the 
future alone is our end. Thus we never- live but we 
hope to live ; and always disposing ourselves to be happy, 
it is inevitable that we never become so. * * * Many 
believe that they are sincerely seeking repose, and are 
seeking in reality only agitation." This view of Pascal 
suggests Pope's line, "Man never is, but always to be 
blessed." 

Mr. Howells relates of a friend who was eminent in 
132 



BORKOWING TROUBLE 

literature, that he had a philosophy which he liked to 
impress with a vivid touch on his listener's shoulder: 
"Put your finger on the present moment and enjoy it. 
It's the only one you've got, or ever will have." 

The absurdity of drawing drafts on the misery of fu- 
turity ought to be obvious to every one. Sydney Smith 
had an excellent rule for the happiness and wisdom of 
life as to the future, not to look too far into it. His 
rule was '^^Take short views of life, hope for the best, 
and trust in God." He declared that this habit of tak- 
ing very short views may be acquired by degrees and 
that a great sum of happiness will be gained by it. 
Herbert Spencer is in accord with this conception when 
he insists that one should live for the day and in the 
day — not lose oneself in anxieties and schemes and 
aims; and not be overshadowed by distant terrors and 
far-off hopes, but should say, "To-day is given me for 
my own ; let me use it, let me live in it." Walter Pater, 
though not a follower of Aristippus, who believed in a 
life of ease and self-indulgence, declared that we may 
believe most firmly in a future life and still be assured 
of our duty to get all we can out of this one ; that we may 
believe most firmly in the duty of living for others and 
yet we never can escape the duty of living for ourselves. 
His aim was, as he says, "To well adorn and beautify 
these fleeting lives into an exquisite graciousness and 
urbanity." 

The universality of the belief that prevailed through- 
out Christendom that the end of the world would occur 
at the close of the tenth century, is impressively related 
by Sismondi. This belief was based upon a misconcep- 

133 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

tion of the twentieth chapter of the Apocal_ypse. The his- 
torian declares that it is almost a matter of surprise, . 
that a belief so general did not bring about its own 
dreadful fulfillment. So, an individual, who is con- 
stantly anticipating and dreading the happening to him- 
self of some dire calamity, may contribute to its actual 
occurrence. Swift died as he had feared and constantly 
predicted, "In a rage like a poisoned rat in a hole.'^ We 
recall these lines from Johnson's "Senility and Im- 
becility" : 

"From Marlborough's eyes the streams of dotage flowed. 
And Swift expired a driveller and a show." 

It will be conducive to one's happiness to avoid the 
inexplicable. Do not attempt the solution of insoluble 
problems. There are many of them. The great author 
of the "Provincial Letters" cites some of them when 
he says : "Man is himself the most marvelous object 
of nature; for he can not conceive what body is, and 
still less what mind is, and least of all how a body can 
be united with a mind. This is the climax of his 
difficulties, and yet it is his own being." 

Young men have their troubles. They are oftentimes 
shy and embarrassed and ill at ease. A man of large 
observation and with a profound knowledge of nature, 
observes that a young man in making his first entrance 
into society is so ignorant as to imagine he is the ob- 
ject of universal attention; and that everything he does 
is the subject of the most rigid criticism. Of course, 
under such a supposition, he is shy and embarrassed ; he 
regains his ease as he becomes aware of his insignificance. 

134 



BOEEOWING TEOUBLE 

Again, in youth we look forward to the advances of 
age and feel them more strongly than when they ar- 
rive. Mr. Hazlitt suggests that this is no more ex- 
traordinary than that from the height of a precipice 
the descent below should make us dizzy, and that we 
should be less sensible of it when we come to the ground. 

No one borrows more trouble than the miser. It is 
said that many of them are not afraid of death but are 
possessed of a horrible dread of coming to want ; having 
begun with poverty they are constantly haunted with 
the idea that they shall end in it and it is related that 
some have actually died to save charges. 

We believe that we ought to be satisfied if we have 
succeeded in any one thing, or with having done our 
best, and we concur in the opinion of Hazlitt that any- 
thing more is "for health and amusement, and should 
be resorted to as a source of pleasure, not of fretful im- 
patience and self-imposed mortification." 

There are many instances where the despondency of 
age rests like a pall upon the countenance. Mr. Benson 
has much to say of a consolatory nature to those past the 
meridian of life. He declares that there are many 
compensations for the lack of youthful prowess. One 
is the loss of the quality of self-consciousness which is 
peculiar to the youth and which causes shyness, and the 
unpleasant consciousness of having nothing to say or of 
having said the wrong thing in the wrong way. Another 
great gain is that with age there comes a sort of patience. 
He says, "In youth mistakes seemed irreparable, calam- 
ities intolerable, disappointments unbearable. An 
anxiety hung like a dark impenetrable cloud, a dis- 

135 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

appointment poisoned the springs of life. But now I 
have learned that mistakes can often be set right, that 
anxieties fade, that calamities have sometimes a com- 
pensating joy, that an ambition realized is not always 
pleasurable, that a disappointment is often of itself a 
rich incentive to try again. * * * That one learns 
to look over troubles, instead of looking into them; one 
learns that hope is more unconquerable than grief." Mr. 
Benson also cites, with approval, the assertion of Lord 
Beaconsfield that the worst evil one has to endure is 
the anticipation of the calamities that do not happen, 
and that the thing to aim at is to live as far as possible in 
the day and for the day. Wordsworth declared that he 
thought we had pleasanter days in the outset of life, but 
that our years slid on pretty even one with another, as 
we gained in variety and richness what we lost in in- 
tensity. Hazlitt averred that, upon the whole, there 
are many things to prop up and reinforce our fondness 
for existence, after the intoxication of our first acquaint- 
ance with it is over: "health, a walk and the appetite 
it creates, a book, the doing a good-natured or friendly 
action, are satisfactions that hold out to the last; and 
with these and many others to aid us that fall harmlessly 
in our way, we may make a shift for a few seasons, after 
having enjoyed the short-lived transports of an eager 
and enthusiastic imagination, and without being under 
the necessity of hanging or drowning ourselves as soon 
as we come to years of discretion." 

We are told that to be pensive, not sentimental, is the 
joy of later life: "to grow old, patiently and bravely — 
even joyfully — that is the secret; that life, if it does 
not become sweeter, becomes more interesting. There 

136 



BOEROWING TEOUBLE 

should come a simple serenity of living, a certainty 
that, whatever befall, we are in wise and tender hands." ^ 

The most prolific source of our borrowed troubles is 
the certainty of death; but much consolation is derived 
from the conviction that, in the wise economy of Provi- 
dence, no one ever dies too soon or lives too long. We 
all understand that to die is the common lot of hu- 
manity; and that in the grave, the only distinction is 
between oblivion and renown — and that a vast majority 
of us must be content with the former. We learn much 
from the ancients, one of whom declared that it was 
better to die once than to live alwaj^s in fear of death; 
but we do not need the wisdom of the ancients to con- 
vince us that it is not necessary to make a hell of this 
world in order to enjoy paradise in the next. We have 
reason to thank our stars that the old theological idea 
that mortals are sent here as to a place of sore chastise- 
ment and mortification, if not obsolete, is at least ob- 
solescent. Goethe was perfectly enchanted with the 
beauty of the thought that the ancients had recognized 
death as the brother of sleep; and George Meredith de- 
clared that nothing is more beautiful than a peaceful 
death — that there is nothing shocking to the mind — that 
it suggests heaven and seems a fulfillment of our prayers. 
In many instances, the friends around the patient are 
scarcely aware that he has gone, until the "moonlight 
of death" has passed over his countenance — so silently 
and tranquilly has he departed. 

Ampere, the celebrated French historian and traveler, 
was told by his physician in Egj^pt that his malady, 
dysentery, was almost invariably fatal in the Egyptian 

^ Benson. 

137 



A CONGLOMERATE 

climate, but added "that human life is not worth much 
at the best, and dying is much less difficult than people 
generally believe." 

Ambassador White, upon request, accompanied Count 
Tolstoi to the funeral of one of the latter's friends. In 
the course of their conversation, Tolstoi remarked that 
to look upon the dead should rather give pleasure than 
pain; that memento mori is a wise maxim, and looking 
upon the faces of the dead is a good way of putting it 
in practise. 

It has been suggested that the fancied shortness of 
life is aided by the apprehension of a future state — that 
in ancient times the fear of death was a less prominent 
feature than it is at present, because the thought of it 
and of a future state, were less frequently impressed 
on the mind by religion and morality.^ 

Lord Bacon declared that men fear death as children 
fear to go in the dark; and as that natural fear in chil- 
dren is increased with tales, so is the other ; and that the 
surroundings of death terrify more than death itself. 
He says that it is as natural to die as to be born; and 
to a little infant, perhaps, the one is as painful as the 
other, and adds, "He that dies in an earnest pursuit is 
like one that is wounded in hot blood, who, for the 
time, scarce feels the hurt; and therefore a mind fixed 
and bent upon somewhat that is good doth avert the 
dolors of death." 

Socrates advises that we be of good cheer about 
death, and know of a certainty that no evil will happen 
to a good man either in this life or after death. 

Marcus Aurelius declares that if one considers death 

^ Hazlitt. 

138 



BOEEOWING TEOUBLE 

by itself, separating it in thought from its imaginary 
terrors, it will be understood to be a work of nature, 
and nothing else; and that to dread what is natural is 
childish. "That death like birth is a mystery of nature ; 
the one a combining of elements, the other a dissolution ; 
and that we should await tlie summons with a serene 
mind, as the natural dissolution of the elements of which 
every animal is composed." 

He adjures the people not to worry about the future. 
That they will meet it, if need be, with the same reason 
that they now employ in their present affairs. 

We have been impressed by the observations of Mon- 
taigne on this subject. We must admit, however, that 
his first statement barely missed being a platitude, when 
he declares that "The care of funerals, the place of 
sepulture, and the pomp of the obsequies, are rather 
consolations to the living than any benefit to the dead." 
Eeferring to himself he says, "Never was any man pre- 
pared to bid adieu to the world absolutely and purely, 
nor did anyone ever quit his hold of it more universally 
than I hope to do. The deadest deaths are the best. 

"By the same passage that you came from death to 
life, without passion or fear, go back from life to death. 
Your death is part of the constitution of the universe; 
it is a part of the life of the world. 

"Why do you not go away from life like a satisfied 
guest from a feast? 

"Make room for others, as others have done for you. 
Equality is the soul of equity. 

"Let your life end where or when it will, it is all in- 
cluded in eternity. 

139 



A CONGLOMERATE 

"If company will make it more pleasant, does not all 
the world go the selfsame way as you do? * * * A 
thousand men, a thousand animals, and a thousand other 
creatures die at the same instant that you expire. 

"Do but seriously consider how intolerable and pain- 
ful a life would be which was to last forever." 

The great French novelist^ expatiates upon the two 
manners of death: "The agony of death has its own 
wisdom. Not seldom a simple girl, scarcely more than 
a child, will grow wise with the experience of a hundred 
years, will gain prophetic vision, judge her family, and 
see clearly through all pretenses, at the near approach 
of death. Herein lies death's poetry. But, strange and 
worthy of remark it is, there are two manners of death. 

"The poetry of prophecy, the gift of seeing clearly 
into the future or the past, only belongs to those whose 
bodies are stricken, to those who die by the destruction 
of the organs of physical life. Consumptive patients, 
for instance, or those who die of gangrene — like Louis 14 
— may possess this supreme lucidity to the full; their 
deaths fill us with surprise and wonder. But many, on 
the other hand, die of intelligential diseases, as they 
may be called; of maladies seated in the brain or in 
that nervous system which acts as a kind of purveyor of 
thought fuel — and these die wholly, body and spirit are 
darkened together. The former are spirits deserted by 
the bod}', realizing for us our ideas of the spirits of 
scripture; the latter are bodies untenanted by a spirit." 

It has been observed that the approach of death usual- 
ly brings the exhibition of kindly and gentle emotions. 
Senator Hoar relates thai he and Senator Walthall of 

' Balzac. 

140 



BOREOWING TEOUBLE 

Mississippi were intense political opponents and almost 
invariably disagreed, and that the latter was not wont 
to wear his heart uipon his sleeve. On one occasion, 
however, the senator from Mississippi gave expression 
of deep and kindly feeling toward Senator Hoar. The 
latter was convinced that it was "due to a premonition, 
of which he was perhaps nnconscions, that the end of 
his life was near, and to the kindly and gentle emotions 
which in a brave and affectionate heart like his the ap- 
proach of death is apt to bring." 

The subject of death has received the calm and delib- 
erate consideration of the wise men of all ages, and it is 
a source of comfort and satisfaction to recall their words 
of wisdom. 

Lord Chesterfield, in his old age, declared that he got 
as much as possible of the quiet pleasures of garden- 
ing, walking and reading, and, in the meantime awaited 
death without desiring or fearing it. 

Herbert Spencer considered that it would be great 
joy to die quickly and suddenly, in all the activity of 
life, in comparative tranquillity, with none of the 
hideous apparatus of the sick room about one, and with 
no dreary waiting for death. He suggested that the 
only course we can follow is this : "N'ot by endeavoring 
to anticipate in thought the moment of our end — that, 
perhaps, only adds to its terrors when it comes — but by 
resolutely and tenderly, day after day, learning to com- 
mend ourselves to the hand of God; to make what ef- 
forts we can; to do our best; to decide as simply and 
sincerely as possible what our path should be, and then 
to leave the issue humbly and quietly with God.'^ 

The observations of Mr. Benson on this subject are 
141 



A CONGLOMERATE 

admirable and one can not fail to be profoundly im- 
pressed by reading them. He declares that we begin 
to see, some later, some earlier, that we must find some- 
thing to hold onto, something eternal and everlasting 
in which we can rest. There must be some anchor of 
the soul. He declares that "The anchor can not be a 
material one, for thexe is no security there ; it can not be 
purely intellectual, for that is a shifting thing, too. 
The well of the spirit is emptied gradually and ten- 
derly; we must find out what the spring is that can 
fill it up. * * * But the faith must be deeper faith 
even than the faith of a dogmatic creed; for that is 
shifting, too, every day, and the simplest creed holds 
some admixture of human temperament and human 
error. * * * To me there are but two things that 
seem to point to hope. The first is the strongest and 
deepest of human things, the power of love — not I 
think the m^ore vehement and selfish forms of love, the 
desire of youth for beauty, the consummate love of the 
mother for the infant — for these have some physical ad- 
mixture in them. But the tranquil and purer manifesta- 
tions of the spirit, the love of a father for the son, of a 
friend for a friend; that love that can light up a face 
upon the edge of a dark river, and can smile in the very 
throes of pain. That seems to me the only thing that 
holds out a tender defiance against change and suffer- 
ing and death. * * * And then there is the faith in 
the vast creative mind that bade us be. * * * A faith 
in God and a faith in love ; and here seems to me to lie 
the strength and power of the Christian Revelation. 
It is to these two things that Christ pointed men." 

142 



DEVOTION 
THE HIGHEST HEIGHT OF LOVE. 



All fiction abounds with expressions of admiration 
for the beauty and grace of women. We contend that 
their greatest charm is devotion. In the course of time 
beauty will inevitably fade^ devotion may continue dur- 
ing life and after death — forever. It has been said 
that the best loved women in history have been by no 
means perfectly beautiful for ordinary eyes; that Cleo- 
patra, Madame de Pompadour and nearly all women 
famous throughout the world for the love which they 
inspired, have had their defects and shortcomings. There 
is a limit to the charm of mere physical beauty, while 
the beauty of the soul is infinite. It has been said, most 
truly, I believe, ^Hhat devotion is the highest height of 
love." 

Exemplifications of this devotion are to be found in 
every-day life. Only a few days ago the newspapers re- 
late that a young lady residing in South Bend, Indiana, 
arrived in Atlanta on her way to the bedside of her 
lover who was critically ill at Macon. Eather than wait 
two hours for the regular train, she demanded a spe- 
cial which carried her, as on the wings of the wind, to 
her destination, a distance of ninety-three miles. 

143 



A CONGLOMERATE 

In the great battle of Gettysburg, in which the Con- 
federate General Pickett made his celebrated charge 
which amazed and electrified the world — and while the 
terrible conflict was going on — the general discovered 
Mrs. Pickett near him. Being gently reproved for her 
daring, she insisted that "in time of imminent danger 
a woman's place is by the side of her husband". 

Another impressive example of the devotion of woman 
is that of Bettina for Goethe. The great poet resided 
at Weimar, had attained the age of fifty-eight years, 
and his name was already trembling on every tongue. 
Bettina's home was at Frankfort ; she was nineteen, but, 
on account of her small stature, seemed to be twelve or 
thirteen. Quite suddenly Bettina fell in love with 
Goethe, though she had never seen him. She only knew 
him through his renown and his great works. Her adora- 
tion of Goethe began while Bettina was musing alone 
in the garden upon a delicious summer morning, an 
hour most favorable for noble conceptions — when all 
nature and the world were silent, save the feathered 
songsters, and the sun, being just risen, causing the 
flimsy gossamers to glisten in the morning dew. "Gifted 
with a varied imagination, exquisite poetical feeling, 
and a passionate love of nature, she personifies all her 
tastes and youthful aspirations in Goethe's image, loving 
him with rapture as the incarnation of all her dreams." 

The adoration of Bettina for Goethe is difficult of de- 
scription and analysis. It certainly was not an ordinary 
love but rather a kind of worship. It has been de- 
scribed as "an ideal sentiment better than a love purely 
from the imagination and yet dissimilar to one entirely 

144 



DEVOTION THE HIGHEST HEIGHT OF LOVE 

from the heart. * * * That Bettina felt in him the 
dignity arising from the grandeur of his mind." Again 
it has been said that their mutual love "was a flame that 
carressed without burning." 

On Goethe-'s part, he realized that he was charming 
to one that he kept at a distance, and that he was in- 
debted to Bettina for "a rejuvenescence of mind and a 
return to spiritual life; but that he was only in love 
with the heroine of his fancy, the ideal of his dreams." 

The highest literary authority has declared that 
Goethe was not only the greatest poet of Germany, but 
one of the greatest poets of all ages. "That his nature 
responded to every influence of passing emotion. Like 
a delicate harp, it was silent if not touched, and yet gave 
its music to every wooing of the wilful wind." 

Bettina writes an account of her first meeting with 
Goethe. She called with a letter of introduction. On 
arriving at the house of the great poet, she waited a 
few minutes before seeing him. Suddenly the door 
burst open and Goethe appeared. She says : 

"He surveyed me solemnly and fixedly. I believe I 
stretched out my hands toward him. I felt my strength 
failing me ! Goethe folded me to his heart, murmuring 
the while : Toor child ! I have frightened you.^ Those 
were the first words he uttered, and they entered my 
soul. He led me into his room, and made me sit on the 
sofa before him. We were then both speechless. He at 
last broke the silence." * * * He referred to the re- 
cent death of the Duchess Amelia, and inquired if she 
had read it — and that he imagined everything in rela- 
tion to Weimar interested her. She replied, "No, nothing 

145 



A CONGLOMERATE 

interests me except yourself." He remarked, '^'You are 
a charming ghV Then came a long pause. "I was 
still exiled on that fatal sofa, shy and trembling. My 
conduct was utterly disgraceful. I at last exclaimed, 
^I can not remain on this couch!' and I rose suddenly. 
'Well, do as you please,' he replied. I threw my arm 
around his neck, and he drew me on his knee, pressing 
me to his heart." * * * She remained long enough 
on his shoulder to fall asleep. On awakening she began 
conversing a little. Goethe plucked a leaf off the vine 
that clustered round his window, and said : ^'This leaf 
and your cheek have the same freshness and the same 
bloom." 

'^'Tlieir second meeting took place after an interval 
of several months. Bettina could hardly speak, so deep 
was her emotion. Goethe placed his hands on her lips 
and said : "Speak with your eyes. I understand every- 
thing;" and when he saw that the eyes of the charming 
child were full of tears, he closed them, adding wisely, 
'^Let us be calm — it becomes us both to be so."* This 
is what I call devotion. 

I have nowhere been able to find any description of 
the personal charms of Bettina — of her graceful form, 
of her beautiful face, of her bewitching manners. She 
may or may not have possessed physical beauty. But 
how exceedingly unimportant this question becomes, if 
she had that love, that devotion, which catches its in- 
spiration from the immortal God and leaves, at an im- 
measurable distance below, sensualism and the sensualist, 
and all the baser passions of the human heart! 

* Sainte Beuve. 

146 



DEVOTION THE HIGHEST HEIGHT OF LOVE 

Those who have read the history of France for the 
period embracing the first half of the last century are 
no doubt familiar with the life of that extraordinary 
woman, Madame Recamier. Nearly all of her friend- 
ships were with men, but there is no evidence against 
her morality. It is said that the leading motive of her 
life was simply the desire to exercise a supreme in- 
fluence in a certain limited circle. "That she liked to 
be the queen of a little court, to live surrounded by 
sympathy, affection and admiration." Those who gath- 
ered around her were men of intellectual eminence usual- 
ly much younger than herself. She has been described 
as a woman of stately beauty, royal grace of demeanor, 
and of exquisite tact and taste. The most effectual 
of her arts was to manifest the heartiest possible in- 
terest in a man's career, so that he felt at liberty to 
consult with her at any time about his ambition and 
purposes in life; and he always found an attentive lis- 
tener and kindly adviser. It is conceded that she knew 
the value of her extraordinary physical attractions and 
availed herself of them in her efforts to preserve her in- 
fluence amongst her admirers. It seems that she never 
even in old age, ill health, and reduced circumstances 
lost her attraction. 

Jean Jacques Ampere, a brilliant young Frenchman, 
historian, archaeologist, and traveler, early developed an 
ardent predilection for literary pursuits, which was 
"strengthened by his intimate intercourse with the bril- 
liant circle to which his introduction to Madame Re- 
camier's celebrated reunions admitted him." 

The lady manifested extraordinary interest in young 
147 



A CONGLOMERATE 

Ampere's intellectual pursuits, and he frequently con- 
ferred with her personally, and sought her advice by 
letters. In one of his letters to her he says: 

"You like me to speak about my labor, to tell you all 
my studies, as a schoolboy tells his mamma. Well, 
here is what just at present time seems to me the finest 
thing in the world, and an infallible means of arriving 
almost at universal knowledge. It is very simple and 
consists only in remarking in each book that I read 
what are the most important points, to concentrate all 
my attention upon them, to engrave them in my memory, 
and endeavor to forget all the rest entirely. To this I 
add another condition, which is to read, on each subject 
and in each language, nothing but the best books. It 
seems to me that by this method it may be possible, 
without uselessly overburdening the mind, to acquire 
very accurate and very various knowledge. I have be- 
gun to apply this system to various work, and am de- 
lighted with it." 

Madame Recamier, a blind old woman, died at the age 
of seventy-two. Young Ampere overwhelmed by -grief for 
her death, threw up his emplojinent, "crossed seas,'' and 
traversed both the Eastern and Western hemispheres, 
hoping, if possible, to assuage his grief, which seemed 
to be inconsolable. He was bound to her by no tie of 
consanguinity, and she only liked him, the question of 
love, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, so far 
as she was concerned, at least, having no place in their 
association. This extraordinary devotion on the part 
of Ampere certainly has no parallel in the history of 
the human heart. 

148 



DEVOTION THE HIGHEST HEIGHT OF LOVE 

To illustrate the truth that "devotion is the highest 
height of love/^ I have already cited three instances 
of feminine and one of masculine devotion. I now give 
an historical incident illustrative of the mutual devo- 
tion of the sexes. 

John Jacques Rousseau is one of the great historical 
characters of the world. He was neither a great 
dramatist nor a great poet, nor even a great novelist. 
He is usually characterized as "philosopher;" and as a 
delineator of the passions of the human heart, and a 
describer of the beauties of nature, he is considered to 
be without a rival. 

From the impartial student, his character and writings 
will command neither unqualified approbation nor un- 
qualified reprobation ; but many of his defects and short- 
comings have been excused and palliated by reason of 
his wonderful feeling and passionate sincerity. 

His writings and teachings did more to precipitate 
the French Eevolution, than those of Mrs. Stowe to 
bring about the civil war in America; unlike Mrs. 
Stowe, however, he died before the fire which he had 
kindled broke forth in all its virulence and fury. Rob- 
espierre and Madame Roland, and their followers, 
quoted Rousseau in justification of their excesses and 
intolerance. 

The most famous and most poetical episode in Rous- 
seau's life was his amour with Madame de Warren. 
Writers have reviewed it with emotion, eloquence and 
enthusiasm, and it has passed into history as one of the 
most famous love stories. "The scene of it long since 

149 



A CONGLOMERATE 

became a place of sentimental pilgrimage, preserved 
as an historical monument at public cost." 

It is only to the incipiency of this amour that we wish 
to refer. Madame de Warren was a widow of twenty- 
nine, a handsome woman, but of no dazzling beauty. 
John Jacques was a lad of sixteen. It is said that the 
tones of his voice were suggestive of emotion, and that 
he had strangely beautiful eyes; and that his face was 
beautified by the serenity of a blameless soul. He was 
at the age when a boy is still floating in the paradise of 
fancy — when his love is spiritual — sentiment rather than 
passion. The very strength of his spiritual passion im- 
poses severe self-restraint, and inspires one with a 
reverence for woman. To her what can be more de- 
lightful than to feel that tenderness is inspired by 
sentiment rather than by passion! On account of dis- 
parity of age, he must have felt that his love could never 
become consummate by marriage — but it has been said 
that there is nothing so near divine love as hopeless love. 
It is as true as it is trite, that a boy has a very 
positive predilection for falling in love with a woman 
many years his senior. 

The earliest manifestation of affection between 
Rousseau and Madame de "Warren was when, he kneel- 
ing at her feet, with his head in her lap, they both 
sobbed — sobbed themselves to sleep. 

The hardened old "buffer" whose sensibilities have be- 
come callous in his pursuit of gain, or whose mind has 
been infected with a moral scrofula, will have no ap- 
preciation of this marvelous exhibition of tenderness 
and sentiment. But Rousseau declared, in after years, 

150 



PLAGIARISM— OEIGINALITY 

that lie tasted on this occasion the purest pleasure — and 
enjoyed idyllic and Arcadian happiness. 

The principle applied to the age of chivalry, that sin 
loses half its evil by losing all its grossness, has no ap- 
plication heTC, for the very obvions reason that no sin 
had been committed. 

We end as we began, by reiterating the thought, that 
the greatest and only enduring beauty is devotion — the 
beauty of the soul. 



PLAGIARISM — ORIGINALITY. 

The charge of irrelevancy, upon the strength of so 
great an authority as Hallam, must always be regarded 
as hypercriticism. The accusation of plagiarism is the 
charge which authors of both ancient and modern times 
have been most generally called upon to answer. Most 
of our thoughts are derived by perception rather than 
conception. This fact does not constitute plagiarism. 
A plagiarist is one who purloins the writings of another 
and puts them off as his own. This is certainly a very 
grave offense and the one who commits it becomes an 
object of both commiseration and contempt. It is our 
opinion that such cases are exceedingly rare if, for no 
other reason, because the perpetrator is sure to be found 
out and exposed. To assume that the theft would not 
be discovered, would be a gross reflection upon the alert- 
ness and acuteness of the literary world. This charge 
was placed at the door of Coleridge. His son, after the 
death of his father, made the fine observation, that the 
door which separates the chambers of memory and imag- 

151 



A CONGLOMERATE 

ination is so loosely hung, that it will now and then 
swing open, and allow the treasures of one to roll into 
the other. If it were possible for any author to elim- 
inate from his work all thoughts, not indigenous to 
his own brain, his book would be a veritable skeleton. 

The author may legitimately derive his thoughts and 
material either by perception or conception; the former 
may be by observation, conversation with others, or by 
reading the writings of other authors ; the latter only re- 
quires susceptibility "which brings its subject-matter 
with it, and is itself the instrument of culture." 

It has been truly observed that perception and con- 
ception mutually require each other. Goethe declared, 
however, that he felt that the surest basis on which to 
build was his own creative talents. He said that for 
many years he had never known it to fail him for a 
moment. "What, waking, I had seen by day, often shaped 
itself into regular dreams at night; and when I opened 
my eyes, there appeared to me either a wonderful new 
whole, or a part of one already commenced." He added, 
in the same connection, that a creation of importance 
could be produced only when its author isolated him- 
self; and that his own productions which had met with 
so much applause were children of solitude. 

The same great author declares that all that is wise 
has been thought already but we must try nevertheless 
to think it again. He suggested that the finest sign of 
originality is to know how to develop an old thought so 
fruitfully that no one could have guessed before how 
much truth there was in it. 

The author of a novel may derive his characters from 
152 



PLAGIARISM— OEIGINALITY 

different sources. He niay observe them directly in the 
actual world ; he hears or reads about them and thus ap- 
propriates the experience of other persons, or he may 
imagine his characters.^ 

Montaigne admonishes his readers not to let the sub- 
jects he writes on be so much attended to as his manner 
of treating them, and says, "Let it be observed whether, 
in what I borrow from others, I have chosen what tends 
to set off or support the invention, which is always my 
own." 

The merit of an author lies in his form; "his true 
originality lies in the plan of his work and in his style 
— that manner of expression which distinguished the 
mold of his genius from the mintage of any other brain. 
Of the novelty of his ideas he can give no guarantee, but 
the form in which they are conveyed is his own peculiar 
property." The style of an author should be of the 
image of his mind — the necessary expression, not of 
himself, but of his manner of thought. Thus, says 
Pater, Macaulay was a man who perceived likenesses 
and unlikenesses ; he thought largely by contrast and 
generalizations. 

Professor Flint in his "Philosophy of History," writ- 
ing of Montesquieu, declares that he was endowed with 
"that most valuable sort of originality which enables a 
man to draw with independence from the most various 
sources, and to use what he obtains according to a plan 
and principle and for a purpose of his own — the orig- 
inality of Aristotle and Adam Smith." 

This subject has been discussed by an eminent writer^ 
^ Bliss Perry. * Mathews. 

153 



A CONGLOMERATE 

with clearness and force and with much felicity of ex- 
pression. He says, among other things : 

"Is there such a thing as originality — ^pnre and abso- 
lute originality — in letters? 

"Is it_, or is it not, still true that, as the wise man pro- 
claimed twenty-eight hundred years ago, there is noth- 
ing new under the sun ? * * * The originality which 
some critics demand is simply an impossibility. * * * 
To attain it, he must place himself in the condition of 
the first man, and ignore all the ideas which he owes to 
his contemporaries and the gen^erations before him. 
* * * He should be shut up from childhood, like 
Miranda, an a desert island, with no companion but 
Caliban. * * * .The most conscientious writer, how- 
ever hard he may strive to be original, is compelled to 
be, in a greater or less degree, a literary resurrection- 
ist. * * * If we wish to know whether there is any 
originality in the literature of our day, we shall not ask 
whether its materials are absolutely new^, but whether 
they have been so adapted and moulded as to be a new 
'Creation. * * * The essence of originality — the only 
originality possible in our day — is not the invention of 
something bizarre and extraordinary, but the vitalizing 
of materials that already exist, and which ate common 
to all. It is not easy to define what is called genius; 
but one thing is certain, namely, that it does not feed 
on itself and spin cobwebs out of its own bowels, which 
would only keep it forever impoverished and thin, but 
it is essentially passive and receptive in its nature, and 
impregnates itself continually with the thoughts and 
feelings of others. 

154 



SOCIETY AND CONVENTIONALISM 

"Voltaire laughed to scorn the idea of a perfect orig- 
inality. He declared that the most original writers bor- 
row from one another; and says that the instruction we 
gather from books is like fire, — we fetch it from our 
neighbors, kindle it at home, and communicate it to 
others till it becomes the property of all." 

"Behold" says Castera the French translator "what 
makes great writers ! Those who pretend to give us 
nothing but fruit of their own growth soon fail like 
rivulets which dry up in summer. Far different are 
those which receive in their course the tribute of a hun- 
dred rivers, and which, even in the dog-days, carry 
mighty waves triumphantly to the ocean." 



SOCIETY AND CONVENTIONALISM 

We are well convinced that intellectual pursuits do 
not qualify anyone for success in fashionable society. 
Byron, in a letter to Moore, declared that society as 
then constituted was fatal to all original undertakings; 
but the well-known morbidity of Byron would tend to 
impair the force of his opinion. We believe that the 
mingling in general society to a moderate extent, would, 
as a rule, be beneficial to the student rather than detri- 
mental. To permanently withdraw from society — to 
become a mere recluse — could only result in serious de- 
moralization. Moderation in these, as in the other 
affairs of life, should be our shibboleth. 

Now and then we find a frivolous man who is per- 
fectly content with a mere drawing-room celebrity. He 
wishes naught beside. He talks himself out and is at 

155 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

the end of his rope. Balzac, so celebrated for. his keen 
analysis of character, described an individual who 
"learned to dance and waltz so well as to be noted;" it 
was a source of exquisite satisfaction and delight to this 
person to be known as "handsome Thuillier." It is re- 
lated, however, that he was as deficient in intellectual 
and literary acquirements as if he had been born with 
a natural delicacy of mental constitution. In brief, he 
became weak in "the intellectuals." 

Hamerton defines fashion to be nothing more than the 
temporary custom of rich and idle people who make it 
their principal business to study the external elegance 
of life. He says "that an intellectual man may go into 
general society, quite safely, if only he can resist its in- 
fluence upon his serious work; but such resistance is 
difiicult in maturity and impossible in youth. * * * 
That the impression which fashionable society produces 
upon a student who has strength enough to resist it is 
a painful sense of isolation in his earnest work." 

An eminent man, of large observation, declares that 
great men are the slaves of their work, and that their 
indifference to outer things, their devotion to their work, 
make simpletons regard them as egotists, and they "are 
expected to wear the same garb as the dandy who ful- 
fills the trivial evolutions called social duties. These 
men want the lions of the Atlas to be combed and 
scented like a lady's poodle." 

The views of great men on this subject, as exemplified 
by their own lives, are interesting and instructive. We 
read of Lowell that while he was not an unsocial man, 
he was most distinctly not a society man; that he loved 

156 



SOCIETY AND CONVENTIONALISM 

chiefly the companionship of books, and of men who 
loved books. Mr. Howells, a literary contemporary, de- 
clares, that of women generally Lowell had an amusing 
diffidence: that he revered them and honored them, but 
he would rather not have them about. Mr. Howells adds 
that "there was never a more devoted husband, and he 
was content to let his devotion to the sex end with that. 
He especially could not abide difference of opinion in 
women; he valued their taste, their wit, their humor, 
but he would have none of their reason. * * * 
Summer and winter he sat there among his books, sel- 
dom stirring abroad by day except for a walk, and by 
night yet more rarely." 

The isolation of Hawthorne was almost conventual. 
There were months together when he scarcely held 
human intercourse outside of his own family, seldom 
going out except at twilight, or to take the nearest way 
to the most convenient solitude. He said that he doubted 
whether so much as twenty people in the town were 
aware of his existence for nine or ten years. He lived 
habitually within himself, and seemed, as his son Julian 
said, to find no better society. It was said that he 
roamed the woods by day, and, in the moonlight nights 
of winter skated upon the lake alone until midnight. 
It has been affirmed of him that he withdrew himself 
from the face of man and meditated for twelve lonely 
years on humanity. 

It was said that Voltaire had talents well adapted for 
society ; but at one period of his life he passed five years 
in the most secret seclusion, and indeed usually lived in 
retirement. 

157 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

De Tocqueville had a strong aversion to general so- 
ciety. His manner was quiet and dignified but some- 
what cold. A gentleman who for a time acted as his 
secretary declared that De Tocqueville was the most re- 
ticent man he ever met. 

There are many persons who are instinctively averse 
to formality and conventionalism. In our own com- 
munity it devolved upon Mr. A. to introduce Mr. B. to 
Captain C. A. addressing B., said: "My friend here 
was a captain during the entire period of the war be- 
tween the states, and exhibited his prowess on many bat- 
tlefields. He has since resided amongst us and is uni- 
versally beloved by the people of this section ; indeed, we 
cannot do him too much honor." A. then addressing 
Captain C, said: "My friend hexe has recently gradu- 
ated with high honors at university. He is the 

prince of athletes, as you may readily observe. It is 
his purpose to become a lawyer and his many friends 
confidently expect that he will attain high rank in his 
chosen profession. Mr. B., allow me to introduce you to 
Captain C. Shake hands with each other, gentlemen." 
The captain retreating one step, and bowing, replied: 
"Pardon me; I am not making any new acquaintances 
now. I already know more people than I can treat well." 

Among the striking characteristics of Bismarck was 
his evident antipathy to ceremonial. 

An Englishman when presented to the Duke of Well- 
ington, remarked to the duke that he would always re- 
gard it as the greatest honor of his life — the privilege 
of shaking hands with the great hero of Waterloo. The 

duke replied : "Oh ! don't act the d fool." 

158 



SOCIETY AND CONVENTIONALISM 

Eude, the celebrated sculptor, declared: "I do my 
very best, and praises could neither make me do more 
nor better, whereas censure would trouble me. If my 
works are good they will endure; if not, all the lauda- 
tion in the world would not save them from oblivion." 
His biographer at the end of a fascinating delineation 
of the character and philosophy of this extraordinary 
man, observes, that the reader may imagine how diffi- 
cult it was to persuade a man of this kind to pay visits 
of ceremony, in correct costume, with gloves and a neat- 
ly brushed hat. 

Another of the world's celebrities asks the question, 
*^What place indeed is there in the shallow frivolous 
thing called society for noble thoughts and feelings ?'' 

It was said in commendation of Sydney Smith that 
he had the courage in a luxurious, artificial society, 
where weak men are crushed by conventionalism, of 
appearing what he was and spending no more than he 
could afford. 

Mr. Bigelow, American ambassador to France, dur- 
ing the period of our civil war, relates that he was called 
upon one morning by Governor Morton, of Indiana, 
who was fond of being spoken of by the press as the war 
governor. Morton presented a letter from Mr. Seward 
then secretary of state, commending him to the usual 
courtesies due from the embassy. He wished Mr. Bige- 
low to present him to the emperor, that he might have 
an opportunity to talk with him in private about our re- 
lations with France and Mexico, and to say to him some 
things which it might not be suitable for the official rep- 
resentative of the government in Paris to say. That 

159 



A CONGLOMEEATB 

coming from him, what he said to the emperor might 
have its weight without in any way officially compromis- 
ing the government or Mr. Bigelow. The latter replied 
that he did not well see how he could comply with the 
governor's wishes without special instructions : that if 
he presented him officially to the emperor, the ambas- 
sador, by so doing, made his government just as much 
responsible for what Morton might say as if he had said 
it himself, and that he was not warranted in authoriz- 
ing any person to say to the emperor anything which 
would not be suitable for the ambassador of the United 
States to say to him. Morton could not disguise his 
great disappointment. In order to comfort him, Mr. 
Bigelow said to him that there would be a grand ball 
at the palace the following week and that he would pro- 
cure invitations for himself and Mrs. Morton, which he 
did. Mr. Bigelow adds : "In a few days Morton came 
in and said he had been informed that a unifoim of 
some kind would be necessary for the occasion — and 
then asked me what they would say at home if he were 
reported to have been at a ball in Paris wearing a sword 
and a cocked hat — in a tone as if what they would say 
^lambs would not forgive nor worms forget.' His ques- 
tion was one that I did not feel competent to -answer. I 
gave him the address of a tailor who could fit him for 
the occasion at an expenditure of from 50 to 75 francs. 
He went off not cheerfully, but apparently satisfied. 
In a day or two he sent me a note declining the honor of 
being presented at court." Mr. Bigelow, with delicate 
irony, concludes his account of the incident as follows: 
"Afterward Morton introduced in the senate a bill for 

160 



"THE EEMINISCENCES'' OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

regulating the tailoring of the diplomatic corps to suit 
the standards of his senatorial constituency. This was 
the only official result of the governor's first and only 
visit to the old world." 

Mr. Arthur Christopher Benson, whose ^^From a Col- 
lege Window" and "Upton Letters" have delighted so 
many readers, declares that one of the important priv- 
ileges of advancing years is the decreasing tyranny of 
convention. He says that with every year he gets more 
and more impatient with conventionality. That when 
the ordinary usages of life have been complied with, all 
sensible people ought to have a line of their own about 
occupation, amusements, friends, and not to run to and 
fro like sheep just where the social current sets. He 
says that he has learned gradually that after a decent 
compliance with superficial conventionalities, there are 
not only no penalties attached to independence, but that 
there, and there alone, is happiness to be found. This 
eminent writer evidently has the courage of his convic- 
tion, because he does not hesitate to give a practical ap- 
plication of his theories. He says: "Now, if I am 
asked to stay at a tiresome house I refuse. I decline in- 
vitations to garden parties and public dinners and 
dances, because I know that they will bore me ; and as to 
games, I never play them if I can help, because I find 
they do not entertain me." 



OF GOLDV^IN SMITH. 

We have read with intense interest the "Eeminiscences 
of Goldwin Smith," recently published. It is a large 

161 



A CONGLOMERATE 

volume containing nearly five hundred pages. The 
author was an English essayist and historical writer. 
He was born at Heading in 1823 and died in Canada 
in 1910; was educated at Eton and Oxford; took his 
degree of B. A. at Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1845; 
became fellow and tutor in the university, and was 
called to the bar in 1850. He did not enter upon legal 
practice, but became a member of several educational 
commissions. In 1856 he was made regius professor 
of modern history at Oxford. In 1868 he came to the 
United States, having been elected professor of constitu- 
tional history in Cornell University, Ithaca, N". Y. 
This position he resigned in 1871. He then removed to 
Canada, where he was appointed a member of the sen- 
ate of the University of Toronto. In addition to his 
numerous historical writings, he was a frequent con- 
tributor to periodical literature and delivered numerous 
lectures upon social and political topics. 

There are many reasons why the book is invaluable. 
Its author was a man of the highest scholastic attain- 
ments and the broadest culture : he had the deep sagacity 
that may be acquired by long habits of thinking and 
study ; he had a vast comprehension, a maturity of judg- 
ment and was unsurpassed in critical acumen and pro- 
fundity of knowledge; he bore an unsullied character 
through the turbid waters of political contention; his 
knowledge of human nature was consummate, and, while 
his wisdom was that both of observation and reading, 
one must be especially impressed by his depth of observa- 
tion. His keen analysis of character and conduct is 
universally recognized. 

162 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

We have seen that he was called to the bar in 1850. 
His powers, though admirably adapted for grasping the 
fundamental principles of law, were probably not of a 
nature to render him successful in legal practise — and, 
besides, it certainly was not the design of his existence 
that his talents should be wasted in the contention of the 
courts. 

Mr. Smith's pretensions to eminence did not rest upon 
his oratorical powers ; indeed, he frankly admits that he 
was not an orator. He should have thanked his stars 
for this deficiency — if the term be understood in its 
accepted modern signification. We cannot conceive of 
the author of "Eeminiscences'^ acting in the role of the 
modern orator. We know what extraordinary temporary 
effects have been produced by the mere manner of an 
orator, without any uncommon weight or worth of mat- 
ter. He has been compared to a magnificent meteor 
which shot majestically across the heavens, from pole 
to pole, and straight expired in glorious blaze. Often- 
tim_es he is a mere rhetorician and his discourse con- 
sists more of pomp of words than greatness of thought. 
The possession of this accomplishment has been known 
to be conducive to inordinate presumption and vanity, 
as exemplified by the rhetorician who went all the way 
to Carthage to instruct Hannibal in the art of war."^ 

' We have in mind a public man, now in middle life, who 
began his career with many "latent possibilities of great- 
ness." Well endowed by nature, highly educated, not de- 
ficient in perseverance, with an insinuating address, and 
with many graces of person and manner, his friends were 
confident of a great future for him. Unfortunately, how- 
ever, he conceived the idea that in order to attain great- 
ness, he must become a voluble rhetorician, must harangue 

163 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

The "Eeminiscences'^ is not only an invaluable reper- 
tory of facts; it also gives expression to the profound 
and comprehensive views of the author upon questions 
of national and international importance, that arose on 
both sides of the Atlantic during his long and chequered 
career. He knew the prominent public men both of 
England and America^ with many of whom he was on 
terms of personal intimacy. His singular propensity to 
observe and comment upon the human character is 
everywhere apparent. 

His recollections of contemporary English statesmen 
are of intense interest; included in the number are 
Bright, Cobden, Brougham, Peel, Disraeli, Salisbury 
and Gladstone. He knew the great scientists Huxley, 
Tyndall, Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill and Agassiz. 
In the domain of literature, he was acquainted with 
Dickens, Bulwer, Hallam, Carlyle, Guizot, Macaulay, 
Louis Blanc, Froud and Tennyson. He also describes 
the personalities of Queen Victoria, Edward VII and 
Louis Napoleon, and gives his estimates of their char- 
popular audiences with every species of rhodomontade, 
and, if possible, stir their passions to the inmost depths. 
He has sailed along upon the surface of the great ocean of 
learning, apparently oblivious of the riches to be found in 
the depths below. Even his most intimate frifends, so far 
as we know, have never accused him of profundity, either 
in law, statecraft, or diplomacy. His merit is almost 
wholly rhetorical. He does not succeed well either in ex- 
position or refutation. He has ignored the obvious fact 
"that the vigorous and audacious bursts which overwhelm 
an audience at the moment, and are the birth of the mo- 
ment, die almost as soon as born." The most that can just- 
ly be said of him, even by his most ardent admirers, is 
that "he is like an exquisite side dish not sufficiently sub- 
stantial for a full meal." He has been relegated to private 
life. 

164 



^THE EEMimSCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

acters and abilities. His reminiscences of the great sol- 
diers Wellington, Lee, Grant, Sherman and Mead will 
be read with especial interest. He knew Lincoln, 
Seward, Emerson, Longfellow, Bryant, Lowell and Ban- 
croft, and writes entertainingly of them all. In this 
connection he discusses the war between the states, hav- 
ing sojourned in America while the great conflict was 
going on. All his sympathies and predilections were 
with the North, but he had not been influenced in his 
opinions by fifty years of agitation, crimination and re- 
crimination, so that his views on this subject are pre- 
sumably impartial. 

In 1848 his father, who was a physician, having in- 
dependent means, gave up his profession, in which he 
had been very successful, and retired to a country house 
at Mortimer, eight miles from Eeading. They had 
many visitors at Mortimer — men eminent in literature, 
state-craft, diplomacy and war. He says that the coun- 
try houses in that part of rural England were beautiful, 
but complains that in the country society there was no 
enchantment; and he does not omit to relate the im- 
portant fact that there was a parson in his parish who 
only put on a white tie when he was going to deal for 
a horse. 

The country-seat of the Duke of Wellington was in 
an adjoining parish. Mr. Smith relates that there was 
a farm which ran into the duke's estate and which he 
wished to buy; but it was held at too high a price. One 
day he was greeted by his bailiff with the glad tidings 
that the owner of the farm was in difficulties and was 
forced to sell at a low price. "I don't want to take ad- 

165 



A CONGLOMERATE 

vantage of any man's difficulties/' the duke replied; "go 
and give him the fair price for his land." 

Mr. Smith declares that the names and faces of his 
schoolmates are as fresh in his memory as if he had just 
left the school; while he forgets the names and faces of 
people to whom he was introduced yesterday. 

This fact will be confirmed by the experience of al- 
most every man of advanced years. Smith inquires what 
is memory? "Wliat is it that stores up these myriads 
of impressions and retains them for seventy years? It 
is, of course, something physical, since the receptive or 
retentive power of the retina is diminished, as I know 
too well, by old age." 

Foreigners of distinction often visited Eton. "I saw 
in the schoolyard," says Smith, "Daniel Webster, with 
his brow and port of Jove." This visit of Webster to 
Eton was when he was negotiating the Ashburton treaty 
between Great Britain and the United States. 

On one occasion at the end of the summer term at 
Eton, Queen Victoria was present. At her side stood 
the Prince Consort, "with features regular and hand- 
some, but wanting in expression." Smith observes that 
while it is true that the prince was canonized for his 
virtues when he died, that while he lived he was un- 
popular on account of his manner, especially with 
women, and adds : "Englishmen will bear a high man- 
ner in high people, though a frank manner pleases them 
more ; but Prince Albert had in fatal perfection the con- 
descending manner of German royalty. Happily he did 
not transmit it to his son."^ 

* Afterwards His Majesty Edward VII. 
1G6 



"THE KEMINISCEXCES'' OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

Mr. Smith describes Queen Victoria as being dumpy 
but comely, with a fresh complexion, low forehead, re- 
ceding chin and prominent eyes. That she had in short 
the features of the family — that notwithstanding hex 
dumpiness, she acquired a queenly bearing. "She was 
a good and domestically exemplary, but in no way ex- 
traordinary woman.'' 

Our author avers that he was unambitious — and that 
the university honors thrust upon him at the outset as 
a sort of distinction had been the source of more pain 
than pleasure. That his great pleasures have always 
been domestic, and that he should have been happier in 
a perfectly private and tranquil walk of life. 

He has something to say of football. He asserts that 
in his time the game was never played by any adults 
but the roughs of the North, and when they played it at 
Eton only the ball was kicked, whereas everything now 
is kicked but the ball. He declares that the statement 
now made that character is less masculine than it was 
is not a paradox, athletic force being mascular, not 
moral. 

Mr. Smith became regius professor of modern history 
at Oxford and was a member of the National Education 
Commission. 

He declares that at Oxford they were almost entirely 
free from the hazing, which he characterizes as the 
"strange opprobrium of American colleges." 

Cobden said to Mr. Smith when he was going to 
America, "There are two sublimities in nature, the sub- 
limity of rest and the sublimity of motion. The sun- 
set Alps are the sublimity of rest, the sublimity of mo- 

167 



A CONGLOMERATE 

tion is Niagara." He observes that Cobden would now 
find Niagara turned into a power and railroads running 
up the sunset Alps. 

He writes of his travels and he says that at Dresden 
he often stood before the Sistine Madonna. He ex- 
presses the opinion that this is the only infant Jesus 
with a supernatural look ; and it occurred to him that the 
effect might have been produced by putting the eyes of 
a man into a child's face. As to the pictures of the 
virgin and child in general, he expresses the opinion, 
in which we must all concur, that art toils in vain to de- 
pict deity as a child in a mother's arms. 

He much prefers the former manner of spending one's 
vacation. Then a man who had a holiday reposed. He 
asserts that the present age is so restless that it can find 
repose only in action. "If a man has a holiday, he sets 
out to travel as far as he can by rail, encountering al- 
most as many cares in catching trains, looking after bag- 
gage and getting rooms at hotels as there are in the 
business for relief from which he flies." 

He knew Guizot, the celebrated French statesman and 
historian, having made his acquaintance when the latter 
was an exile in London. He received a kind invitation 
to visit the home of the eminent Frenchman. Their 
talk, as they paced the garden after breakfast, was 
mainly about the religious state of Europe. Guizot 
seemed to look with complacency on the Papacy as a 
conservative power. Coming to the subject of Ireland, 
he stopped in his walk, and with an emphatic wave of 
his hand, said "The conduct of England to Ireland for 
the last thirty years has been admirable." Smith re- 

168 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

plied that in intention it had; but that they had still 
to do away with the Irish church establishment. To this 
Guizot assented^ and then repeated what he said be- 
fore. 

He was well acquainted with Louis Blanc, the French 
politician, historian, political writer and socialist. Mr. 
Smith relates that they sat on Eichmond Hill through 
a long summer afternoon talking of his doings and those 
of his party in France. He found that in exile he was 
moderate as well as very lovely and attractive, but that 
he seemed to have no definite policy, though he had 
strong feelings, and it was the belief of Mr. Smith that 
if the guillotine had been put into his hands he would 
have used it. 

He relates interesting stories of Lord Wastbury. 
Meeting him one morning in consultation about an im- 
portant bill, seeing him very lively, and knowing how 
great his burden of work was, Mr. Smith complimented 
him on the ease with which he bore it. "Yes,'^ he re- 
plied, "I thank God it is so, and I owe it under Provi- 
dence to my habit of always working early in the morn- 
ing, not late at night. "I set out in life,^' he added in 
a pensive tone, "with many dear friends who worked 
late at night. I have buried them all." 

Mr. Smith was offered a permanent place in the pub- 
lic service, which he declined, he said, because it was not 
his line. He declared that when he got the professor- 
ship of history at Oxford, which came to him unasked, 
he had all that he desired in life. 

It was the opinion of our author that the public school 
cannot do much to mould character or manner. He 

169 



A CONGLOMERATE 

says: "The influence of the teachex as a rule seems not 
to be great. It is apt to have against it the fond parent, 
who, the teacher not having been chosen by him, is apt 
to side with the refractory child. The private school 
seems to be generally preferred to the public school by 
those who can aflord it, though they have as taxpayers 
to pay for both.^' 

He relates an anecdote illustrative of the perfection 
of jury trial. His instructor in pleading told him that 
a country gentleman popular in the neighborhood had a 
trial coming on at court. The day before the trial a 
farmer called on him and said, "Mr. Temple, sir, you've 
a cause coming on to-morrow. Don't you be afeared, 
sir; I am on the jury. I have just bought a new pair 
of leather breeches, and I'll sit a hole in 'em afore I 
find agin yer." 

What he says in respect to the trial of a cause in an 
English court is interesting, especially to members of 
the American bar. Two things impressed him. One was 
the superior effect of a quiet and seemingly fair manner 
on a jury. 

He says that "bullying witnesses is certainly a mis- 
take as well as an offense. The natural sympathy of a 
juryman when a witness is being bullied by counsel is 
with the witness. The juryman may some day be a 
witness himself." The other thing was the command 
which an English judge has of his court, which, in sav- 
ing of time as well as in security for justice, amply re- 
pays to the country the large salaries required to tempt 
the leaders from the bar. He sa3^s, "I have since seen 
something of American courts of justice and have been 

170 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

struck with the contrast. A judge of the American 
supreme court told me that in attending an English 
court he had been surprised at the expedition with which 
cases were settled, while, so far as he could see, justice 
was done. The explanation is the command which the 
English judge has over his court ; and, it must be added, 
the freedom with which he is allowed to charge the rural 
jury, whose power of reviewing and balancing the evi- 
dence would often, in a case at all complicated, totally 
fail.^' 

Our author first met Macaulay at the dinner table of 
Sir E. H. Inglis, a member for the University of Ox- 
ford. He says that Macaulay did talk essays and en- 
gross the talking — conversation it could not be called. 
He would seize upon a theme and dilate, with copious 
illustrations, from a marvellous memory. He declares 
that he has seen a whole evening party kept listening 
in a ring to an essay on final causes and the limits of 
their recognition, with numerous illustrations. Mr. 
Smith regarded it as an exuberance rather than assump- 
tion or ostentation. On one occasion, however, he thought 
Macaulay a bore. "It was at a breakfast at Lord Stan- 
hope's. Lord Eussell was beginning to give us an ac- 
count of the trial of Queen Caroline, which he had wit- 
nessed. Macaulay broke in with an essay and Lord 
Eussell was swept away by its tide. Of all English 
talkers that I ever heard, Macaulay seemed to me the 
first in brilliancy. He is the first in brilliancy of Eng- 
lish writers, though not always the most sober or just. 
Of all his writings the least just, while it is perhaps the 
most brilliant, is the essay on Warren Hastings." 

171 



A CONGLOMERATE 

Lord Houghton, from his good natured siniplicity of 
speech, had earned him the nickname of the "cool of 
the evening/^ He was a great and a most successful 
collector of autographs. He showed Mr. Smith on the 
same page some love- verses written by Robespierre when 
a youth, and a death-warrant signed by him under the 
reign of terror. "General Grant, when he went to break- 
fast with the lord, was presented with a round robin 
which he had signed as a cadet at West Point. Hough- 
ton could not tell how he obtained it." 

Mr. Smith's friendship with Hallam's son Henry 
opened to him the house of his illustrious father, the 
author of the "Constitutional History of England" and 
the "State of Europe During the Middle Ages". "The 
historian was then old and bowed down by the loss of 
the son, whose epitaph is "In Memoriam," as well as 
by that of his wife and his favorite daughter. In earlier 
days he had been rather a social terror. People in his 
presence had spoken in fear of contradiction. It was 
said that he got out of bed in the night to contradict the 
watchman about the hour and the weather. Sydney 
Smith said that the chief use of the electric telegraph 
would be to enable Hallam to contradict a man at 
Birmingham. But in his old age and to a' boy like me 
Hallam was all mildness and kindness. I see the old 
man now, sitting in his library with gout in his hands, 
in mournful dignity waiting for the end. But he would 
know that his work was done." 

Our author was intimate with Huxley, the great com- 
parative anatomist and supporter of the Darwinian hy- 
pothesis, and also with Tyndall, the natural philosopher ; 

172 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

with Tyndall he became very intimate, and greatly loved 
him, though on some points they widely differed. "He 
called himself a materialist, and never allowed you to 
call him anything else, ever faithful to his formula that 
matter contained the potentiality of all life. But never 
was a man less materialist in the gross sense of the 
term. 

In 1876 he became well acquainted with Herbert 
Spencer, author of the Synthetic Philosophy. They 
were staying at Buxton together. Mr. Smith is positive 
in the assertion that if a new moral world is built upon 
materialism, Herbert Spencer will have been one of the 
chief builders. "In any case,'' says Mr. Smith, "he was 
a shining light and power: Of his personal eccen- 
tricities plenty of stories have been told. His nervous 
sensibility was extreme. A game of billiards was enough 
to deprive him of his night's rest. A literary flippancy 
of mine once caused an estrangement between us, but 
I am happy to say we became the best of friends again." 

Some of Mr. Smith's most interesting social experi- 
ences were his visits to The Grange. He met there Lord 
Ashburton, whom he describes as a man of intellect and 
culture, and by no means a social cipher, though a less 
important figure than his wife. He refers to Lady Ash- 
burton as a great lad}^, perhaps the nearest counterpart 
that England could produce to the queen of a French 
salon before the revolution. "In person, though not 
beautiful, she was majestic. Her wit was of the very 
brightest, and dearly she loved to give it play. She had 
at the same time depth of character and tenderness of 
feeling." It was here that our author met Mrs. Bigelow 

173 



A CONGLOMERATE 

Lawrence, so renowned for her marvellous beauty. Mrs. 
Lawrence was Sally Ward, the daughter of Robert J. 
AYard, of Kentucky. She has been described as "a 
radiant woman, instinct with sparkling life from the 
crown of her beautiful head to the tips of her slender 
feet, spoiled, wilful, lovely and loving.^^ 

Carlyle was always at the Grange. He was a great 
favorite with Lady Ashburton. Mr. Smith says his talk 
was like his books, but wilder — that his pessimism was 
monotonous and sometimes wearisome, though he could 
not fail to say striking things, still less to use striking 
words. Tennyson was also there. Mr. Smith is not 
alone in his adoration of the poet, but confessed his in- 
ability to worship the man. He declares that Tennyson's 
self-consciousness and sensitiveness to criticism were ex- 
treme. He was fond of reading his own poetry aloud, 
but on one occasion he caused general disappointment 
by his refusal to do so. 

"At his side," says our author, "was sitting Carlyle, 
who had been publishing his contempt of poetry. Im- 
molating myself to the public cause, I went over to Car- 
lyle and asked him to come for a walk in the grounds. 
While we were gone the reading came off. I was re- 
minded of this incident, which I had long forgotten, by 
a reference to it the other day in the Illustrated Lon- 
don News." Mrs. Carlyle was also at the Grange. She 
was a modest personage, rather in the background. 
Mr. Smith expresses great respect for her character as 
well as admiration for her wit and declares that he had 
always cherished the memory of the message which she 
sent him from her death-bed. Bishop Wilberforce w^as 

174 



"THE KEMIOTSCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

also in the circle of the Grange. Our author says he had 
a good right to be there, for he was a very brilliant 
talker, especially happy in repartee, and of his eminent 
ability there could be no doubt, and his meritorious ac- 
tivity in his diocese was unquestioned. He observes, 
however, that the bishop "was at first a fine preacher, 
but at last his incessant activity, leaving no time for 
reading or thought, impaired the matter of his sermons 
and compelled him to make up for lack of substance by 
delivery, of which, having an admirable voice and man- 
ner, he remained a perfect master." 

Mr. Smith only once saw Dickens, but he had a friend 
who was very intimate with him. This friend told him 
much of the unhappy relations of Dickens and his wife. 
"It was a common case; Dickens had married at a low 
level, and his wife had not risen with him; otherwise 
there was no fault on her side." Our author here ob- 
serves that the matrimonial history of writers of works 
of imagination has often been unhappy: their imagina- 
tion turns a woman into an angel, and then they find 
that she is a woman." It seems that about this time the 
scandalous world was being regaled with the war be- 
tween Bulwer and his wife. "^Tien Bulwer was being 
elected at Hertford," says Mr. Smith, "his consort drove 
up in a post-chaise, mounted the hustings and delivered 
a philippic against him. Their son was credited with 
some lines on the occasion: 

"Who came to Hertford in a chaise, 

And uttered anytlilng but praise, 

About the author of my days? 

My mother." 

175 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

Our author very truly observes that if Dickens' own 
home was not happy, few writers have done more to 
make other homes happy and diffuse kindly feelings. 
His "Christmas Carol" is an evangel. 

We knew something of Brougham before reading the 
fascinating "Eeminiscences" of Goldwin Smith. We 
have read of his marvelous versatility — that to portray 
him one must not only portray a lawyer, but an author, 
a philosopher, a scientist, a statesman, a humanitarian 
and a reformer. That he was as great in peace as N'a- 
poleon in war. That to him repose was an impossibility. 
We have read Wordsworth's definition of Brougham's 
most salient characteristic thus : "Independence is the 
explosive energy of conceit making blind havoc with 
expediency." We have seen his own epitaph which, it 
has been truly said, not only recognizes his volubility, 
but illustrates his wit: 

"Here reader, turn your weeping eyes, 
My fate a useful moral teaches: 
The hole in which my body lies 
Would not contain one-half my speeches." 

Sumner writes of his visit to Brougham: "My won- 
der at him rises anew. To-night he has displayed the 
knowledge of the artist and the gastronomer. * * * 
He was horribly profane. When I took leave of him, he 
exclaimed, ^Oh, God ! must you go ?' " 

Mr. Smith, in his observations in respect to his 
eminent contemporaries, does not omit this extraordinary 
man. He says that Brougham aspired to leadership not 
only in law, politics and literature, but in science. His 

176 



^^THE EEMIOTSCENCES'^ OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

private secretary is the authority for the statement that 
when he was leading at once in the bar and in Parlia- 
ment, making one speech several hours long, he could 
do with two hours' sleep each night. On Saturday after- 
noon he would turn in till Monday morning. His 
marvellous endurance is attested by the fact that "when 
he was in full practise on the northern circuit and at 
the same time candidate for the representation of York- 
shire in Parliament, he would, after a long day in court, 
get into a post-chaise and go very long distances to 
election meetings.'' He was ardently devoted to his 
friends, weeping bitterly when he heard of the death of 
an old political associate. Our author declares that 
"nothing can adequately paint the galvanic motions of 
Brougham's face and figure, and that his activity and 
productiveness were miraculous." 

Smith had the greatest respect for Peel, but loathed 
Disraeli and what he was pleased to call the "blackguard 
combination," by which the Peel government was over- 
thrown. 

He was thrown much into Lord Salisbury's company, 
but declares that he always felt and expressed more con- 
fidence in his judgment and rectitude than in his 
strength, and refers to the observation of Bismarck that 
Salisbury was a reed painted to look like iron as an 
exaggeration. 

He considered Froude, the historian, a man of genius 
and a most brilliant and fascinating writer, but asserts 
that neither accuracy nor justice ever was his strong 
point. 

Mr. Smith was offered the nomination for Chelsea 
177 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

and Kensington^ a constituency in which the Liberals 
had a safe majority, but he declined. He says: "I 
knew the difference between the pen and the tongue. I 
never was a speaker, nor had I strength for parliamen- 
tary life." He probably means that he made no pre- 
tensions to oratory. 

Our author was on terms of intimacy with many of 
the public men of England — with the Peelite circle at 
first, and afterward with Bright and Cobden, who are 
so well known and so highly appreciated in this coun- 
try. Sir Eobert Peel was always the object of his po- 
litical allegiance. He says : "I saw in him a statesman 
above party who sought and studied with singleness of 
heart the good of the whole nation, and though I had 
less respect for some venerable institutions than he had, 
I recognized his wisdom in preferring administrative re- 
form, which he steadfastly pursued, to organic change. 
Beyond doubt he had the confidence not only of the ma- 
jority, but of the most intelligent and respectable part 
of the nation." 

We- are told by Mr. Smith that one part of the parlia- 
mentary strategy of Disraeli was the concoction of lit- 
tle pointed sayings about the personal peculiarities of 
his opponents. He said of Horsman, a Whig politician, 
that he was a "superior person," and alluded to Hope's 
"Batavian Grace." Lord Salisbury was "a master of 
gibes, flouts and jeers." He tried to kill Gladstone by 
saying that he was a "sophistical rhetorician intoxicated 
with the exuberance of his own verbosity." "Disraeli 
was a Jew by descent, but a baptized Christian. He 

178 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

was married to a rich wife. He started in public life 
as an adventurer, angling for a seat in Parliament by 
baits thrown out to both parties, and going through a 
series of transformations in the course of which he had 
a slanging match with O'Connell, who called him the 
"lineal representative of the impenitent thief." 

Our author says of Gladstone that his sympathy was 
with eyerybody who was struggling to be free, and this 
it was mainly which led him in the American war of 
secession to lean to the side of the South, and to pro- 
claim that Jefferson Davis had made the South a na- 
tion. Gladstone's private character was admirable in 
every way and Mr. Smith's delineation of his public 
character is both interesting and instructive. He says: 
"That Gladstone was a statesman of the very highest 
class I should find it difficult to believe. His moves al- 
ways seemed to be impulses rather than parts of a set- 
tled plan. * * * Wlien his love of power and his 
pugnacity were excited, it is questionable whether he 
thought much of anything but victory. * * * 
There was nothing fine or indicative of high intellect 
in the face except the fire of the eye. The whole frame 
bespoke nervous energy. * * * As a speaker he was 
in the highest degree effective, but the effect was pro- 
duced by his command of the subject, by the ascendency 
of his character, by the impressiveness of his manner 
and an admirable voice rather than by any grace or force 
of language. He was at his best, I think, in expounding 
a great measure and steering it through the House. He 
had, as was said before, marred the freshness of his style 

179 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

by overmuch speaking in debating clnbs early in life. 
His prolixity, which Disraeli called his verbosity, was 
not felt by the hearers of his speeches, who were rather 
struck by his command of perfectly correct language, but 
it is greatly felt by his readers. * * * jf Glad- 
stone had not, like Brougham, the vanity of versatility, 
he had the propensity in large measure. It is true that 
his amazing powers of acquisition enabled him in a 
way to deal with many subjects. But his writings, 
enormously voluminous and various, are of little value." 

Smith was an ardent Free Trader. He observes that 
the Protectionist tariff of the United States itself was 
a war tariff; that while protectionism reigned in Amer- 
ican legislation, almost all the professors of political 
economy in the Ameiican universities and the writers on 
economy generally were on the side of free trade. 

Our author was on terms of personal intimacy with 
both Bright and Cobden and the three were in accord 
on the great paramount questions before the country. 
He says that Bright was not devoid of sentiment; that 
he adored Milton, and read poetry, as well as the Bible, 
better than any other man he ever heard. Cobden was 
a reader of Burke, Spenser and Cervantes, as his speeches 
and pamphlets show. He asserts that Bright's speeches 
are classic, and Cobden was a first-rate writer in a plain 
style; "that his heart was thoroughly open to beauty and 
to poetical impressions of every kind." We can readily 
concur in the belief of Cobden, Bright and Smith thai 
if the people were prosperous they would be happy, and 
that ir they were hcppy they v>^ould as a rule be good. 



180 



^^THE REMmiSCENCES" OF GOLDWUST SMITH 

The motto of Bright and Cobden was 

"All constraint, 
Except what Wisdom lays on evil men. 
Is evil." 

They regarded the general function of government 
-as that of protecting, not regulating, the conduct of I lie. 
They (says Mr. Smith) would have gone heartily with 
anyone who sought to regulate taxation so that as little 
of the burden as possible should fall upon the poor; 
though they would not have gone with any one who 
wished to use the taxing power for the purpose of dema- 
gogic confiscation. 

Our author writes that "Liberalism — colonial, econom- 
ical and general — had early connected me with Bright 
and Cobden; but the tie was rendered much closer by 
sympathy and joint action at the time of the war in 
America between N"orth and South." 

He does not hesitate to give John Bright the foremost 
place among the British orators of his da}'. 

He says that Bright had no doubt formed his style 
on the Bible, which he had never heard read so well as 
when he heard him read it to his household. He de- 
scribes Bright's delivery as calm and impressive, with- 
out gesticulation or sppearance of oratorical passion; his 
enunciation was perfectly distinct, and he thus without 
straining his voice made himself heard in the largest 
hall. His weight and dignity of character added much 
to the impressiveness of his oratory. Our author asserts 
that Bright probably did not read much beyond the ma- 
terials of his speeches. "He was, however, fond of 
sonorous poetry, and once read aloud to me with great 

181 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

gusto a sonorous passage from the ^Epic of Hades/ by 
Lewis Morris. Of Milton he was very fond, both on 
poetical and political grounds. He asked me whom I 
thought the greatest of Englishmen and answered his 
own question by naming Milton, because Milton was so 
great at once as a man of letters and as a citizen. 
* * * As he sat on m}^ lawn at Oxford one summer 
afternoon when the music of the bells was floating from 
the ancient city, I overheard him say, "It would be very 
pleasant to be eighteen and to be coming here." 

Mr. Smith knew Cobden well. He declares that a man 
more transparently honest, more single-minded, more 
truthful, more entirely devoid of selfish ambition and of 
selfishness of every kind, more absolutely devoted to the 
service of his country and humanity, never appeared in 
public life. He says that Cobden looked forward, with 
much satisfaction, to the ultimate junction of Canada 
with the United States, and the union of the whole 
English-speaking race on the American continent; but 
he expected this to take place with the consent of the 
mother-country, and believed that it would be greatly 
to her advantage. 

Cobden was an absolute free trader; and differed 
essentially from those who, calling themselves free trad- 
ers, are in fact nothing of the kind, but merely advocates 
of a particular tariff, framed with reference to British 
industries and interests, but not necessarily suited to 
those of all the countries in the world. "His heart was 
with those who proposed absolutely to abolish all import 
duties, and supply their place, so far as was necessary, 
by direct taxation. His desire and hope were to make 

182 



"THE EEMimSCENCES'' OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

one commercial community of the whole human race." 

Our author notes the fact that Peel and Cobden, after 
their long strife and final reconcilement, were in a way 
united in their burials. "Peel lies, not in Westminster 
Abbey, but in his home ; Cobden lies in a country church- 
yard. Peel, by his will, specially forbade his son to 
accept a peerage on account of his father's services. 
Cobden was essentially a republican." 

Those ambitious gentlemen who, in our own country, 
are seduously cultivating the art of public speaking, may 
profit by what Cobden says of himself and of his own 
experience : 

"You must not judge me by what I say at these 
tumultuous public meetings. I constantly regret the 
necessity of violating good taste and kind feeling in my 
public harangues. I say advisedly necessity, for I defy 
anybody to keep the ear of the public for seven years 
upon any one question without striving to amuse as well 
as instruct. People do not attend public meetings to 
be taught, but to be excited, flattered and pleased. If 
they are simply lectured, they may sit out the lesson for 
once, but they will not come again; and as I have re- 
quired them again and again, I have been obliged to 
amuse them, not by standing on my head or eating fire, 
but by kindred feats of juggler}^, such as appeals to their 
self-esteem, their combativeness, or their humor. You 
know how easily in touching their feelings one degener- 
ates into flattery, vindictiveness or grossness." 

Mr. Smith again asserts that in spite of their con- 
flicts, Peel and Cobden were really united in their polit- 
ical lives, and it may be said that in death they were not 

183 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

divided. iNTeitlier of them was buried in Westminster 
Abbey. "Peel lies among his family and neighbors. 
Cobden lies in a country churchyard. A man who had 
worked for fame will like to rest in a pantheon; a man 
who has worked for duty and for the approbation of the 
power of duty will perhaps prefer to rest by the side of 
honest labor, and among those whom he has loved." 

Cobden's intense belief in free trade was based upon 
the assumption that the world was a single community; 
and our author suggests that while Cobden could not 
bring the human race to that "far-off goal of philan- 
thropy/' he did something to help it on its way. 

Mr. Smith was appointed regius professor of modern 
history at Oxford in 1858. He had previously been con- 
nected with the Saturday Eeview. Wliile the new posi- 
tion was wholly unsolicited, he declares that it was the 
height of his desire and he thought with pleasure that 
he was settled in it for life. "On the north of the 
Parks/' says he, "I built me a little house which I 
called Park's End, and which afterward had the honor 
of being occupied by Max Miiller and after him by Pro- 
fessor Osier. I planted my little garden. I laid out my 
little croquet ground, which in summer evenings was 
the scene of pleasant little croquet parties followed by 
pleasant little suppers." 

He says that for one of his class and pursuits society 
could not be more delightful than it was at Oxford in 
those days. The professors, with the resident tutors 
and fellows of colleges, formed a circle with various 
lines and interests, moderate incomes, socially and hos- 
pitably disposed. "Hospitality, easy and frugal, college 

184 



"THE EEMIXISCENCES"' OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

kitchens and common rooms supplied. At the little 
dinner parties talk was rational, yet bright and merry." 

Mr. Smith, as professor of history at Oxford, had for 
a pnpil the then Prince of Wales, afterward King Ed- 
ward YIT. He sa3^s that the prince was a comely youth, 
like his mother in face, and with a slight German accent, 
showing, as he had not been in German}^, that German 
was spoken in his domestic circle; and that his manner 
was very engaging and he was thoroughly good-natured. 
Mr. Smith was invited to go with the prince's party to 
Canada, but could not leave his chair. He says "The 
king has always shown a kindly remembrance of his old 
preceptor." 

Our author sa3^s of Louis Napoleon that he, like his 
putative uncle, "wanted the consecration of glory for 
his usurped throne, and a recognized place for himself, 
an upstart of birth not unquestioned, among the crowned 
heads of Europe, which he gained by being allowed pub- 
licly to embrace the Queen of England. * * * jjg 
was a political cracksman who, with his legs under your 
table, would be meditating a raid upon your strong box. 
His friend and confederate, Palmerston, at last awak- 
ened to his real character and bade the nation stand 
upon its guard." 

Mr. Smith, in commenting upon bribery in English 
elections, declares that "Demagogic bribery by the sacri- 
fice of public interest corrupts the community at large 
and costs the state a good deal. Witness the American 
pension list." The veterans of our civil war will doubt- 
less look with much disfavor upon this last statement. 

Our author discusses the American civil war. He 
185 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

says that the aristocratic and wealthy classes in England 
generally, exulting in the downfall of democracy, at 
once embraced the side of the South. But he declares 
that slavery was accursed: it was under the ban of hu- 
manity and that England had made great efforts and 
sacrifices for its extinction. He notes the fact, however, 
that in the United States, Congress, Lincoln and Seward 
had disclaimed any intention of making war on slavery, 
and Congress had offered to perpetuate its constitutional 
existence if the slave states would return to the Union. 
He adds: "We who took the side of the North had to 
contend that the formal was not the practical issue, and 
to make the masses see this was not easy, especially when 
the masses, by the cutting off of cotton, were being 
stinted of their bread." 

He declares that Lincoln, with all his wisdom and 
goodness of heart, never took — or at least never showed 
that he took — a right view of the case Tvdth which he 
had to deal; and that if he had, perhaps there would 
have been no war. Our author says that "Lincoln viewed 
and treated as a rebellion that which was in fact a nat- 
ural disruption, postponed for some time by uneasy 
shifts and compromises, but inevitable in the end. This 
same error pervaded reconstruction. It led to the fatal 
exclusion of the southern leaders from the work of re- 
construction, to carpet-bagging government, to the Ku- 
Klux, and to the almost desperate situation which has 
•ensued. * * * By us in England Lincoln's char- 
acter and history were unknown, and his official utter- 
ances were naturally taken as decisive." 

Our author avers that at this critical period of our 
186 



"THE REMINISCENCES'' OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

civil war England was unfortunate in her foreign min- 
ister. That Lord Russell's diplomatic manner was as 
bad as possible; it was haughty^ unconciliatory and 
brusque. On the other hand he declares that his country 
was fortuijate in having as the American ambassador 
Mr. Charles Francis Adams, "whose bearing throughout 
was excellent, and who, to the pride of aristocracy, could 
oppose the dignity of an illustrious line." Mr. Smith 
adds, "that Mr. Adams certainly was not exposed dur- 
ing those years to the social allurements, under the sweet 
but emasculating influence of which American ambas- 
sadors to England are apt to fall." 

In 1864, when the war was drawing to a close, Mr. 
Smith paid a visit to the United States charged with the 
sympathy of Bright, Cobden and other British friends 
of the North. He was desired at the same time to re- 
port on the real state of affairs. He says: "The first 
thing that struck me was that there was no civil war to 
be seen. The war was between two nations, formed by 
an inevitable disruption, and in the northern, which was 
the invading nation, though war was visibly on foot, 
and all minds and papers were full of it, life was un- 
disturbed. In the border states alone, which were the 
borderland between freedom and slavery, was there any- 
thing like civil war. Social intercourse, therefore, went 
on pleasantly as usual, and my enjoyment of it was com- 
plete. 

During this visit to America our author met Emerson 
and heard him lecture. What he has to say of Emerson 
and his writings is interesting, though we may not con- 
cur in all that he says on the subject. He writes : "I 

187 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

of course looked with interest on a man whose name and 
influence were so great. Emerson's character was un- 
doubtedly fine and his influence was very good. 
But I can not honestly say that I ever got 
much from his writings. I can find no sys- 
tem; I find only aphorisms; an avalanche, as it were, 
of unconnected pebbles of thought, some of them trans- 
parent, some translucent, some to me opaque. Carlyle 
introduced Emerson to the British public as one who 
brought new fire from the empjrrean. But the two men 
in genius were leagues apart, and Carlyle at last found 
the new fire a bore. George Venables, calling one even- 
ing on Carlyle at Chelsea, found himself received with 
extraordinary warmth, the reason of which Mrs. Carlyle 
explained by exclaiming, "Oh, we were afraid it was 
Emerson." I heard Emerson lecture. Now and then 
he shot a telling bolt. The rest of his discourse to me 
was almost darkness. I heard him read his own poetry 
aloud, but it remained as obscure to me as before. Cer- 
tain, however, it is that, by whatever means, he was an 
inspiring and elevating influence in his day.'' 

Mr. Smith also met Longfellow with interest, con- 
sidered him most attractive as a man, but could not give 
him credit for anything more than sweetness as a poet. 
He says that Bryant lives by his "Waterfowl'^ and al- 
most by that alone. He concedes that Poe had poetic 
genius if he had only taken more care of it and of him- 
self and asks if, excepting Poe, it can be said that America 
has produced a poet. He adds however, "Perhaps 
America might ask whether at this time there is such a 
thing as a true poet in the world." 

188 



"THE EEMimSCENCES'' OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

Our author spent man)^ days with Bancroft, the 
American historian, statesman and diplomatist, in his 
Newport villa. He says those days were most pleasant 
and instructive. When Bancroft told him that he knew 
Andrew Jackson well and that Jackson was mild by na- 
ture and put himself into a rage only when it would 
serve a purpose, Mr. Smith was greatly surprised. He 
says in respect to Bancroft's "History of the United 
States" that it is "in Fourth of July style, as was to be 
expected in that day; but it is a considerable work; 
easy reading, and not unfair or in bad taste for its 
time." 

He here digresses for a moment to toss a bouquet to 
the Eepublican party. He says: "The Eepublican 
party, as a body, remains the same, with the name un- 
changed. But how changed is the spirit! How unlike 
is this league of log-rolling monopolists to the patriot 
democracy headed by Lincoln in the days of the war!" 

Mr. Smith was impressed by the fact that it was for 
the Union rather than against slavery that the North 
appeared to be fighting. He says that when the people 
were asked the cause, the usual answer was "to uphold 
the law." "That slavery was the object of hostility 
chiefly because it was the cause of disruption. This was 
the case especially with the officers of the army, among 
whom the feeling against slavery was not strong. It 
was partly a sense of this, I believe, which caused Lin- 
coln to hesitate in proclaiming emancipation." 

Our author observes that the humanities and chivalries 
of war were well observed on both sides, except perhaps 
by the Southerners toward negro soldiers. He says this 

189 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

proved to him that there was a sun behind the cloud, 
and that the strife^, bitter as it was at the time, would 
end in reconciliation. It is very rarely, indeed, that Mr. 
Smith indulges in jocularity, but in this connection he 
could not omit to relate that a "secesh'^ lady at Balti- 
more had eloped with a Yankee trumpeter. In a more 
serious vein, however, he gives an incident confirming 
his view that the strife would end in reconciliation. He 
vouches for the truth of the story, having been furnished 
with the names of persons, time and place. "A Fed- 
eral commander with the local forces found himself in 
a very tight place. It was a question whether he should 
waste blood by fighting or surrender. He surprised the 
Confederate by pajdng him a visit under a flag of truce, 
and asking him for his candid opinion upon the case, 
saying that he could make a good fight, but did not wish 
to sacrifice the lives of his people in vain. The Con- 
federate showed him around the position and then gave 
him his candid opinion, which was that if his command 
formed part of a general plan of operations, he was 
bound to fight; otherwise he might with propriety sur- 
render.'^ 

He gives this story as illustrative of American char- 
acter and of the feelings of the military men on the two 
sides toward each other; and he asserts what we all know 
to be true, that the manifestations of intense bitterness 
were on the part of civilians. 

Mr. Smith entertained views on the subject of re- 
construction. He says if the military leaders of the 
South, after their defeat, instead of being treated as 
rebels could have been taken into counsel in the work 

190 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

of reconstruction, the result, though it could hardly have 
solved the desperate negro problem, might have been far 
better than it was. He adds: "Neither Lincoln nor 
any one else seemed at that time to undeTstand that this 
was not a rebellion, but the inevitable parting of two 
groups of states, radically antagonistic in their social 
and political structure, which had been long held to- 
gether in uneasy union by hollow compromise, but had 
obeyed their natural impulses at last." 

Our author's estimates of the great leaders, both civil 
and military, in our civil war, are both instructive aud 
interesting. Being a foreigner, he is presumably impar- 
tial and uninfluenced by the tempestuous passions en- 
gendered by the war, amongst the people of the two 
sections of our own country. Speaking of Grant he 
says : "He was a silent, somewhat saturnine man, very 
simple in his demeanor and habits. His quarters were 
a common tent, in which was a chest with his kit marked 
'Jj. S. G., U. S. A.' He was said to dislike military 
parade and even military music. He seems to have been 
less of a strategist than of a sledge-hammer of war, 
pounding his enemy by his blows, with little regard for 
the expenditure of life. He may be almost said to have 
professed the strategy of attrition. Of this the bloody 
battle of Cold Harbor, fought in a blind country, was 
a signal instance. * * * But there can be no doubt 
as to the inestimable service which Grant by his iron reso- 
lution and inflexible tenacity did the cause. His great 
victory at Fort Donelson was the first light of hope in a 
darkness which seemed almost that of despair. He also 
rendered a great service by firmly taking the whole war 

191 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

into his own hands and out of those of the politicians, 
whose meddling had done much mischief. * * * His 
generosity Grant showed by handing back to Sherman, 
when the attack on Vicksburg had succeeded, the protest 
which at the council-of-war Sherman had put in against 
the attack. His chivalry was shown by his demeanor 
to Lee after the surrender at Appomattox, when he 
treated Lee at once as a friend and refused to receive 
his sword. His good feeling and his good sense together 
he showed by at once paroling the beaten army, provid- 
ing for their wants, and giving them back their horses 
^for their fall plowing.' " He nobly declined to enter 
Richmond as a conqueror. 

Our author affirms that Grant being totally without 
political experience was a failure in civil life, and that 
he was pitchforked into the Presidency by the passion 
of the Americans for military glory. He refers to Grant's 
hostility to Charles Sumner and says that "Between this 
rough soldier and such a man as Sumner, with his high- 
stepping culture and lofty self-esteem, antipathy was 
sure to be strong. That some one, to please Grant, was 
decrying Sumner to him, saying that Sumner was a 
freethinker and did not believe in th^ Bible. *Well,' 
said Grant, ^I suppose he didn't write it.' Wellington, 
between whom and Grant there was some resemblance, 
also once in his life said a good thing. AYhen he ap- 
peared at the Court of the Restoration the marshals of 
the empire turned their backs on him. The king apol- 
ogized to him for their rudeness. 'N'importe, Sire. C'est 
leur habitude,' was Wellington's reply." 

Mr. Smith met Grant and Mrs. Grant some 
192 



"THE REMINISCENCES'' OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

years afterward at a garden party at Lambeth 
Palace, the residence of the Archbishop of Can- 
terbury. He says that they looked a curiously rustic 
couple in that assemblage of fashion, and adds : 
"Grant was then touring under the auspices of 
politicians who wanted a third term for him and 
thought it might be secured by presenting him to the 
world's homage. No showman could have had a worse 
lion. Stanley, who showed Grant over Westminster 
Abbey, said that of all men of rank whom he had met 
Grant Svas the most boorish'. Grant was no doubt un- 
appreciative of antiquities, and Stanley had no oppor- 
tunity of diving into the character of the man." 

Our author met Sherman at a dinner of the Chamber 
of Commerce at New York. He says that Sherman was 
generally accounted the greatest strategist on the side 
of the North, though some put Thomas first. He ob- 
served that Sherman was then showing the effect of 
years. 

Some years afterward at Philadelphia he made the 
acquaintance of Meade, who appeared to him to be a 
high-minded soldier and a thorough gentleman. He 
says that Meade had done good service in restoring the 
tone of the Army of the Potomac when it had been run 
down under Hooker. Meade in his conversation said 
not a word against Grant but intimated that he did not 
admire the strategy of attrition. 

He says that Lee has been pronounced a great strat- 
egist by those whose judgment cannot be disputed, 
though only by an American writer has he been put 
above Marlborough. That Lee seems to have fought, 

193 



A CONGLOMERATE 

not against the Union nor for slavery; but simply as a 
liegeman of his state; that his character was fine^ and 
that it would have been well both for South and North 
if in reconstruction his voice could have been heard. 

Our author declares that Benjamin Butler was a 
curious personage. He says that Butler "was exceed- 
ingly ugly, and squinted horribly; but his face and 
figure were an incarnation of rude force, and reminded 
you of a steam ram. Unscrupulous he was in the high- 
est degree. But I believe his ruling passion was no- 
toriety rather than gain. Those who were put on his 
track at New Orleans found, as I was told at the time, 
no trace of his stealing for himself, though he had 
winked at the doings of subordinates. He was 
evidently a loving husband to his admirable wife and 
a loving father to his beautiful daughter. He was 
evidently popular with his aides and his men. He wanted 
to be President. This was his motive in his attack on 
Andrew Johnson and in his advocacy of repudiation. 
In his advocacy of repudiation he was misled, as the un- 
scrupulous are apt to be, by underrating the general 
honesty of the world." 

Our author continues, "As a general, Ben was not a 
success. Grant said that he was ^bottled up' in the 
bend of the James river where he was carrying on some 
engineering operations suggested by his restlessly in- 
ventive genius. He did me the honor to impart to me 
his plan for blowing up Fort Fisher, which had ob- 
stinately resisted federal attack, by running ashore un- 
der it a gunboat loaded with powder. I could not help 
venturing to suggest to the general the ineffectiveness of 

194 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

powder fired in the open air. But Butler thought he 
had scientific proof that the displacement of air would 
be so great that Fort Fisher would cease to exist. The 
experiment was afterward made, and the breaking of 
two or three windows in the fort was the only result. 

Our author saj^s that he had the honor of being the 
guest of Mr. Seward in Washington and saw the di- 
plomatist unbend in his social hour, and that there was 
no limit to the freedom of his talk. He declares that 
Seward was the least cautious of diplomatists, and some- 
times startled the British ambassador, Lord Lyons, who 
was accustomed to the reticence and impassiveness of 
diplomatists in the old world. 

*^^Crossing the mud-hole between Seward's house and 
an official building/' Mr. Smith presented his card and 
found himself in the presence of Abraham Lincoln. He 
says: "The notion formed of Lincoln in England had 
been that of a Yankee rail-splitter with an ungainly and 
grotesque figure, displaying an unfeeling levity by the 
utterance of rather coarse jokes, from which he did not 
abstain even among the relics of the battle-field. Un- 
gainly and grotesque the figure, with its gaunt height, 
its shock of unkempt hair, and its large hands and feet, 
undeniably was; but on the face, instead of levity, sat 
melancholy and care. * * * Lincoln since his death 
has been deified. He has been styled the greatest states- 
man of the age. The American mind is never sparing 
of superlatives in either extreme. He had the wisdom 
which happily belongs to a perfectly honest and simple 
character. He never was misled by cupidity, vanity, or 
selfishness of any kind. He had also, as the result of 

195 



A CONGLOMEKATE 

a naturally sympathetic nature, improved by -campaign 
practise, a remarkable power of reading public senti- 
ment and keeping himself in touch with what he called 
the plain people. His addresses and state papers are 
admirable; the simplicity and clearness of their style 
bespoke the integrity and sincerity of their author." 
Mr. Smith here reiterates with emphasis what he has 
said more than once before, that Lincoln if he saw, 
never showed that he saw the fundamental character of 
the situation with which he had to deal. That he al- 
ways spoke and wrote as if he took secession to be a re- 
bellion, whereas it was a natural severance of the slave- 
owning South from the free ISTorth, social structure 
having as usual asserted its ascendancy over political 
organization. 

Mr. Smith was on terms of intimacy with John 
Stuart Mill. They were together on the Jamaica Com- 
mittee. He regarded Mr. Mill as the most strictly con- 
scientious man that he ever knew. He says that in an 
unhappy moment Mill allowed himself to be elected to 
the House of Commons — that he sat there night after 
night like an image of patience, listening to debates on 
which the time of the great philosopher and economist 
was miserably wasted. * * * Our author adds: "I 
have always looked upon him as a notable instance of 
the division which is taking place between the dogmas 
and the ethics of Christianity; the dogmas remaining 
with the orthodox, the ethics often going to the infidel. 
Upon the ethics it is to be hoped Christendom will re- 
unite." 

196 



^'THE EEMINISCENCES*' OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

Mr. Smith returned to America in 1868 with the view 
of further studying American history and institutions. 
He afterward became Professor of Constitutional His- 
tory in Cornell University, upon the urgent solicitation 
of Andrew D. White and others. He pays a well de- 
served tribute to Mr. White, referring to him as a 
^Vealthy citizen of Syracuse, a man of the highest at- 
tainments and culture, who devoted to the foundation 
of the university not only much of his wealth, but labor, 
which was of higher value and bestowed at a greater sac- 
rifice. * * * He has shone as a diplomatist at St. 
Petersburg and Berlin. He has also shone as a writer.'' 

Mr. Smith deplores the fact that what he terms the 
extravagant and costly passion for athletics, which had 
ils source in the universities of the English gentry, has 
invaded in full force the American universities, and 
Cornell among the number. He says : "University au- 
thorities ought to have the courage and integrity to con- 
trol it. University education is already challenged by 
commercial men as interfering with a youth's start in 
business life. To this challenge, if the student is to 
spend his time and his father's money in training his 
muscles, there will be no reply. After all, no excellence 
that he can gain in that way will put him on a level 
with many a negro porter. I have, in fact, seen a negro 
porter who was physically a finer man than any college 
athlete. The model of perfect human form in the Lon- 
don museum of the College of Surgeons is or was a 
negro, who we may be sure was as nature had made him. 
A lower level still is reached when the student becomes 
a professional performer and gate-money is the object 

197 



A CONGLOMERATE 

of the game. A university which permits this suffers 
absokite degradation." 

Before he became a professor at Cornell, Mr. Smith 
was one of a set of non-resident lecturers which included 
Agassiz, Lowell, GeDrge Curtis and Baj^ard Taylor. 
Agassiz was lecturing when he arrived ; they boarded to- 
gether in the Clinton House for some weeks and our 
author greatly enjoyed his society. He says of Agassiz : 
"Eminent as a man of science, in character and habits 
he was simple as a child. He never used a bank, but, as 
he told me, carried his money in his pocket, and when 
it was spent went lecturing to get more.'' 

Our author knew Lowell, who was one of the ten lec- 
turers. He says that LowelFs anti-British prejudice 
was at that time still rather strong; he found him more 
sociable when he afterward met him as American ambas- 
sador in England. He adds: "Lowell was not only 
cured of his anti-British prejudice, but largely Angli- 
cized, as American ambassadors to England are apt to 
be. It is hardly wise to make them afterward American 
secretaries of state. Mr. Charles Francis Adams, who was 
minister to Great Britain during the civil war, of course 
escaped the influence, his great natural strength of char- 
acter being aided by the circumstances of a mission which 
he discharged with incomparable skill." 

Mr. Smith says that his life at Ithaca was social and 
merry, that the people in the city were kind, and that he 
looks back upon those days with pleasure. He declares 
that no years of his life have been better spent ; was im- 
pressed by the beauty of the country round the head of 

198 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

the two lakes, Cayuga and Seneca, and frequently in- 
dulged in excursions on foot. He adds : "This British 
habit the people could not understand. A farmer, if he 
overtook me on the road in his buggy, would kindly 
offer me a ride, thinking that it was only for the want 
of a horse that anybody could be going on foot." 

He attended a great camp meeting, the first one he had 
ever witnessed. It impressed him as being quite as 
much a social gathering as a religious communion. 
"Preaching of a vehement kind was going on all the 
time," he says, "and people were coming up to the 
preacher's stand and declaring themselves converted. 
But there were ice cream establishments, and there was 
a good deal, evidently, of social enjoyment at the same 
time." He was thrilled when "Eock of Ages" was sung 
by the multitude "among the pines and under the stars." 

Our author declares that the occasional lynchings in 
the United States, "paradoxical as it may seem," are 
proofs rather of respect for law than of lawlessness. 

Mr. Smith, when settled in Canada, made frequent 
visits to Washington, which city, he observed, was always 
growing in brilliancy, architectural and social. He de- 
clares that it is the only great city on the American con- 
tinent that is permanently and securely well governed. 
"Instead of being under an elective council of ward 
politicians, it is under three commissioners appointed by 
the President of the United States. Here the problem 
of municipal government, supposed to be insolvable, is 
solved if other cities would accept the solution. They 
will never get out of the slough of mal-administration 

199 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

and corruption in which they are all wallowing while 
they hug the elective system and government by ward 
politicians." 

He frequently met Bancroft, the historian, at the 
Cosmos Club, of which they were both members, and had 
many pleasant and instructive talks with him. He says 
that "Bancroft had preserved his health and his powers 
of work into old age by a careful regimen. Like Bethell, 
he worked early in the morning. He took regular horse 
e-xercise till very late in life. When he could no longer 
ride he took to driving, which as he was apt to let the 
reins drop, was rather perilous to himself and his com- 
panion." Our author adds : "When he took my wife 
out for a drive, I was glad to get her back safe." 

One of his great friends at Washington was Mr. Bay- 
ard, secretary of state, whom he pronounced a thoroughly 
high-bred and honorable politician. Mr. Bayard was 
afterward ambassador to England, and there distin- 
guished himself, says our author, as an envoy of peace 
and friendship. He adds: "It might be ungracious to 
say that with the highest of motives he somewhat over- 
did the part. An American ambassador to England 
should be cautious how he allows himself to be brought 
under the spell of London society. He should remem- 
ber that he is an ambassador, the representative of a 
separate and occasionally conflicting interest. I have 
touched on this point already in the case of Lowell." 

Mr. Smith excoriates the Grand Army of the Eepublic 
and places the seal of his reprobation upon what he is 
pleased to term the plundering of the nation for the pay- 

200 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

ment of exorbitant pensions. Certainly, no one reading 
what lie says, would mistake it for the utterance of the 
average American politician. The Grand Army of the 
Republic is, without doubt, a formidable and compact 
political organization, and we recall the name of no 
public man in this country who has had the temerity or 
moral courage to inveigh against it. He declares that 
"admiration filled the world when, after the war, the 
arm}', instead of overturning the Constitution and mak- 
ing its general a dictator, as it had turned its plough- 
shares into swords, turned back the swords into plough- 
shares and returned generally to the employments of 
peaceful life. Nobody could foresee that out of the 
grave of the military organization would arise a political 
organization styling itself the Grand Army of the Re- 
public and plundering the nation on a gigantic scale. 
Thirty-five years after the end of the war, the country 
was paying one hundred and forty millions in pensions, 
of the claims for w^hich a large proportion were notorious 
frauds. Compared with this, what are the worst cases 
of monarchical wastefulness ? What was the cost of that 
paragon of monarchical wastefulness, Versailles? Nor 
was the expense the worst of the evil. The worst of the 
evil was the demoralization. Yet not a politician dared 
say a word, while the platforms of both parties paid a 
cowardly homage to the Grand Army vote and promised 
a liberal construction of the pension law, that is to say, 
increased license of public pillage. There are few^ things 
more shameful in the annals of any nation. The total 
cost of the war of secession, when to the enormous outlay 

201 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

on the war itself, including bonuses and payment to sub- 
stitutes, is added the pension, beggars experience and al- 
most defies calculation/^ 

Mr. Smith frequently visited the Senate and the 
House. He declares that in the latter it may almost be 
said that a voice of thunder is a condition of political 
eminence. That the acoustics are bad, and "so incessant 
is the noise of talking, moving about, slamming of desks, 
and calling of pages, that hardly any speaker can be 
heard. It is a babel with a gavel accompaniment. Or- 
der there is none. I have seen a number of members 
leave their places and group themselves, standing, round 
a speaker whom they particularly wished to hear. Speaker 
Eeed's stentorian voice prevailed over the din. So did 
that of Mr. Bryan." 

He admits that the average of speaking in America, 
both in Congress and elsewhere, is far higher than it is 
in England. That rhetoric and elocution are parts of 
American education, but he declares that the training 
has one bad result — the orator seldom gets rid of the 
air of speaking for effect. Eeferring to Edward Everett 
he says : "I once heard Everett, whose platform oratory 
was the acme of American art. His language was un- 
impeachable. But his every word and not only his every 
word, but his every gesture, was unmistakably prepared. 
He seemed to gesticulate not only with his hands, but 
with his legs. He even planned scenic effects before- 
hand. Having to deliver a Fourth of July oration, he 
introduced a veteran of 1812, put him in a conspicuous 
place, and told the old man to rise to him at his entrance 
into the hall. The old man did as he had been bidden. 

202 



"THE REMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

Everett apostrophized him with, 'Venerable old man, 
sit down ! It is not for 3^ou to rise to us, but for us to 
rise to you.' The veteran said afterward, 'Mr. Everett 
is a strange man; he told me to rise when he came into 
the hall, and when I did rise he told me to sit down/ " 

Mr. Smith had a poor opinion of American statesman- 
ship. He declares that in the United States the grocers 
are statesmen ; the statesmen are grocers. But he mag- 
nanimously concedes that the level of political intelli- 
gence among the people is higher than it is in any other 
country. He considers the term of the member of the 
House of Representatives too short for political train- 
ing, and asserts that "the House is a chaos led, if at all, 
most incongruously by the Speaker, who acts as the head 
of a party when he ought to be perfectly impartial." 

Our author, of course, knows full well that there are 
inherent defects in all governments and in all constitu- 
tions — that perfection in them is unattainable as it is in 
the individuals who devise and construct them. He de- 
clares that the weak points of the American Constitu- 
tion are beginning to appear and he attributes them to 
the "deference to the false diagnosis of Montesquieu 
which entered into its construction, and is now interfer- 
ing with its working as a Republican counterpart of the 
Constitution of Great Britain." 

On the subject of society at Washington he says: 
"The tendency of society at Washington, of official and 
congressional society particularly, to dress itself after 
European courts and to mimic their etiquette is manifest 
and amusing. Still, when I was there, democracy con- 
tinued to assert itself, especially in the familiarity of 

203 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

the people with the head of the republic. I attended 
one of the Presidential receptions at the White House. 
It was in the evening. There was an immense attend- 
ance of people all in their common dress. From the time 
when I fell into the line it took three-quarters of an hour 
to reach the Wliite House. It took the same time to 
get from the entrance to the White House to the recep- 
tion room, where the name of each visitor was called 
by the marshal, and the President took each in turn by 
the hand. Sad the plight of his hand at last must have 
been. Nothing, however, could be better than the be- 
havior of the people. They moved on quietly in line, 
showing not the slightest sign of impatience. It is 
doubtful whether a crowd of the aristocratic society at 
London would have behaved quite so well. We used to 
hear of scuffles and of torn dresses in the ^Crush Eoom' 
at St. James." 

He comments on the party system of the United 
States. After reciting the fact that there were two great 
organizations always on foot, he declares that the prin- 
ciples of each oranization are ambulatory, and a fresh 
platform is constructed before each Presidential elec- 
tion, the planks being selected with a view to the attrac- 
tion of votes. He says: "It is possible to trace a con- 
nection, though of very tortuous kind, in the principles 
of the Democratic party, which have in the time of Jef- 
ferson been, though under a different name, ultra- 
Democratic, became that of the slave-owning oligarchy 
of the South, the medium of transformation being the 
ultra-Democratic theory of state-right, which sheltered 
slavery. The changes, nevertheless, are vital. Nobody 

204 



"THE EEMINISCENCES" OF GOLDWIN SMITH 

would recognize the identity of the plutocratic Repub- 
lican of the present day with the patriotic Republican 
of the struggle for the Union." 

Mr. Smith, in 1871, after severing his connection with 
Cornell, went over to reside with a branch of his family 
settled in Canada. In Canada he was destined finally 
to make his home. Four years after his arrival there he 
married Mrs. Harriet Boulton and, with her in The 
Grange at Toronto, he declares that the rest of his life 
was most happily passed. His description of The Grange 
and of their domestic life there is fascinating in the ex- 
treme : 

"The Grange at Toronto, with its lawns and its old 
elms, is the counterpart in style and surroundings of 
a little English mansion. It is the only specimen of the 
kind that I happen to have seen on this side of the At- 
lantic. There were one or two more in Toronto, but 
they have succumbed to progress. The Grange is an 
antiquity among mushrooms, having been built in 1817. 
It originally stood outside of the city, though now it is 
in the exact center. In summer, when the trees are in 
leaf, nothing is seen from its door but a church spire. 
In such a mansion lived Miss Austen's Emma, and her 
father. We had, moreover, a household of faithful and 
attached domestics, our relations with whom were like 
those of an English family in former days. The mar- 
ried ones lived w4th their children, on the grounds in 
four cottages, which they took pride in making pretty 
with flowers and creepers, giving an air of happy life 
to the place. In summer, only chimes were wanting to 
make me fancy that I was in England. The great elms 

205 



A CONGLOMERATE 

were a special feature of the place, and to their whis- 
pering under the starlight I owe some lessons in 
philosophy." 

THE OBSOLESCENCE OF SECTIONALISM. 

People of the present generation can have no adequate 
conception of the intense animosity, verging in many 
cases upon absolute ferocity, that prevailed as a result 
of fifty years of slavery agitation, culminating in oui 
great civil war. Any such vitriolic fulmination as the 
following, emanating from a Northern pulpit, would 
now be received with loathing and reprobation: 

^^Greek fire for the families and cities of the rebels 
and hell fire for their chiefs." Certain pulpit cham- 
pions boldly asserted this as a sentiment. It was not 
merely the raving of a single religious mountebank. 

An eminent public man declared while the conflict 
was going on that, "I entertain no doubt whatever that 
hundreds of thousands of people at the North would 
be frantic with fiendish delight if informed of the uni- 
versal massacre of the Southern people, including women 
and children, in one night." 

It was not to be expected that the speeches of Thad- 
deus Stevens, the leader of the war party in the House 
of Representatives, Avould be interlarded with enco- 
miums upon the South and the Southern people ; and, in- 
deed, it might reasonably be supposed that he w^ould, in 
a measure, inspect the truth of the situation through 
the magnifying glass of passion. But that he would 
exhibit a merciless and fiendish ferocity would hardly 

206 



THE OBSOLESCENCE OF SECTIONALISM 

be expected from one of his acknowledged ability. It 
certainly could not be said of Stevens, as was said of Sir 
James Mackintosh, "that he could not hate; that the 
gall-bladder was omitted in his composition." 

The ablest, the purest, the most cultivated and refined, 
were not exempt from defamation and calumny. Even 
the gentle, erudite, and profound Roger B. Taney, chief 
justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, the 
immediate and worthy successor of John Marshall, re- 
nowned on both sides of the Atlantic for his legal pro- 
fundity and acumen, did not escape the objurgations of 
the political guerrilla of the period, engaged in the per- 
nicious occupation of inflaming the minds of the people 
with sectional hate. The following delectable excerpt 
from a speech of Stevens is significant : 

"Sir, this doctrine of a white man's government is as 
atrocious as the infamous sentiment that damned the 
late Chief Justice Taney to everlasting fame, and I fear 
to everlasting fire." 

Those of us who at the present day believe that true 
patriotism consists in loving one^s whole country in its 
entirety, and each state in its unity, congratulate our- 
selves and the country that the old animosities caused 
by the prolonged agitation of the question of slavery and 
tlie civil war, are rapidly passing away. If sectionalism 
is not obselete it is at least obsolescent. Indeed, we are 
living in an entirely new atmosphere. No stronger evi- 
dence of this can be given than tlie opinions now ex- 
pressed by Northern statesmen and others, of abolition 
antecedents, in regard to the South and her representa- 
tive public men. 

207 



A CONGLOMERATE 

James Russell Lowell, of whom, as poet, essayist, 
and diplomatist, the American people are so justly proud, 
did his part in the prolonged agitation of the slavery 
question. When he graduated at Harvard in 1838 he 
was the poet of his class, and his production excited at- 
tention by reason of its witty ridicule of the abolition 
movement of that day. But it was not long until he 
himself embarked on the sea of abolition. He became 
editor of the "Antislavery Standard," and later in life 
was the author of the celebrated "Bigelow Papers" which 
was a caustic and telling satire on slavery and the Mexi- 
can war. His productions were always effective but free 
from bitterness. Before his death he gave out strong 
intimations that his course would have been somewhat 
different, if he had had his life to live over again. Mr. 
Howells, his literary contemporary, says: 

"Lowell had a great tenderness for the broken and 
ruined South, whose sins he felt that he had had his 
share in visiting upon her, and he was willing to do what 
he could to ease her sorrows in the case of any particular 
Southerner." 

Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, whose long term of 
service in the senate reflected honor not only upon his 
own state but upon the whole country, expresses his 
opinions of the Southern people and their representative 
men. The high estimate placed upon Mr. Hoar by his 
contemporary Mr. Blaine, will receive the hearty con- 
currence of the people of all sections of the country. 

"Eminent in his profession, successful in his political 
career, Mr. Hoar superadds accomplishments which 
neither the practise of law nor participation in public 

208 



THE OBSOLESCEXCE OF SECTIONALISM 

affairs can give. * * * He is independent without 
self-assertion, courageous without bravado, conscientious 
without Pharisaism." 

The expressions of the great senator from Massachu- 
setts are alike creditable to him and to those of whom he 
speaks. 

Referring to the Southern people and Grant the 
senator says : 

"The Southern people, even the white Democrats al- 
ways had a kindly feeling for Grant. They did not 
resent what he had done as a soldier, as they resented 
what Greeley had said as a politician. They knew too, 
in spite of their strong differences with Grant, the innate 
modesty, justice and courage of the man." 

Speaking of the Southern people and the carpet- 
baggers Mr. Hoar says : 

"In general it was impossible not to feel a certain 
sympathy with a people, who whatever else had been 
their faults never had been guilty of corruption or 
meanness, or the desire to make money out of public 
office, in the intolerable loathing which they felt for these 
strangers who had taken possession of the high places in 
their states. * * * When the support of the na- 
tional administration was withdrawn, the negroes and 
carpet-bag majority was powerless as a flock of sheep 
before a pack of wolves to resist their brave and un- 
scrupulous Democratic enemy, however inferior the 
latter in numbers." 

Again: "With the departure of Senator Butler from 
the Senate, and that of his colleague. General Wade 
Hampton, ended the power in South Carolina of the old 

209 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

gentry who, in spite of some grave faults, had given to 
that state an honorable and glorious career." 

Hoar on the Southern people : "My long conflict 
with their leaders has impressed me with an ever in- 
creasing admiration of the great and high qualities of 
the Southern people, yet as I grew older I have learned, 
not only to respect and esteem, but to love the great 
qualities which belong to my fellow-citizens of the South- 
ern states. They are a noble race. We may well take 
pattern from them in some of the great virtues that make 
up the strength, as they make the glory of Free States. 
Their love of home ; their chivalrous respect for woman ; 
their courage; their delicate sense of honor; their con- 
stancy, which can abide by an opinion or a purpose, or 
an interest, of their states through adversity and through 
prosperity, through the years and through the genera- 
tions, are things by which the people of the more mer- 
curial North may take a lesson. And there is another 
thing — covetousness, corruption, the low temptation of 
money has not yet found any place in our Southern 
politics." 

Mr. Hoar's estimate of Senator Beck of Kentucky is 
interesting : 

"We had an intense dislike of each other for the first 
few years of our service. He hated everything I be- 
lieved. He thought the New England Abolitionists had 
neither love of liberty nor care for the personal or 
political rights of the negro. He maintained that the 
forefathers of the New England Abolitionists were guilty 
of bringing slavery into this continent. He hated the 
modern New England theological heresies with all the 

210 



THE OBSOLESCENCE OF SECTIONALISM 

zeal of his Scotch Presbyterian forbears. He hated the 
reconstruction policy, which he thought was inspired 
by a desire to put the white man in the place where the 
negro had been. * * * He hated New England 
culture and refinement, which he deemed a very poor 
crop coming from a barren intellectual soil. * * * 
He had a powerful and vigorous frame, and a powerful 
and vigorous understanding. * * * Anybody who 
undertook to debate with him found him a tough cus- 
tomer. He knew the Bible— especially the Psalms of 
David — and the poems of Burns, by heart.'' 

Senators Hoar's delineation of the character and 
charming attributes of Justice Lucius Q. C. Lamar of 
Mississippi is fascinating in the extreme. The style 
and subject-matter are equally captivating: 

"Mr. Justice Lamar always underrated himself. This 
tendency plainly sprang from a vivid imagination. With 
him the splendid passions attendant upon youth never 
faded into the light of common day, but they kept before 
him as an ideal, the impossibility of whose realization, 
as borne in upon him from time to time, oppressed him 
with a sense of failure. Yet the conscientiousness of 
his work was not lessened, nor was the acuteness of his 
intellect obscured by these natural causes of his discon- 
tent; nor did a certain oriental dreaminess of tempera- 
ment ever allure him to abandon the effort to accomplish 
something that would last after his lips were dumb." 

Mr. Hoar, referring to the assertion of Mathew Arnold 
in one of his essays that, in general, Americans lack dis- 
tinction, but allowing this quality to Grant and denying 
it for all the world to Lincoln, continues: 

211 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

"With some rare and delightful exceptions, we are 
eminently commonplace. The men who are sent to con- 
gress do not escape the wearing quality. * * * 
Some of the best, most attractive men I have known were 
from the South. * * * One of them, perhaps, on 
the whole, the most conspicuous, is Lucius Q. C. Lamar. 
* * * Lamar was one of the most delightful of 
men. His English style, both in conversation and in 
public speaking, was fresh and original. * * * jjg 
had taken the part of the South with great zeal. He told 
me shortly before he left the Senate that he thought it 
was a great misfortune for the world that the Southern 
cause had been lost. * * * Lamar was a delightful 
man in ordinary conversation. He used to tell delight- 
ful stories of queer characters and events that had come 
within his own observation. * * * When I made 
a motion excepting Jefferson Davis from the benefit of 
the bill to pension the soldiers of the Mexican war, Mr. 
Lamar compared him to Prometheus, and me to the 
vulture pre3dng upon his liver. * * * He had a 
delightful and original literary quality which, if the 
lines of his life had been cast amid other scenes than the 
tempest of a great revolution and civil war, might have 
made him a dreamer like Montaigne; and a chivalrous 
quality that might have made him a companion of Athos 
and D'Artagnan." 



212 



MEXICO — TAFT AND DIAZ AT EL PASO — UNIQUE COURT- 
SHIP AND MARRIAGE — CORTES^ LIKE DEWEY^ A VICTIM 

OF INGRATITUDE MEXICAN MAIDEN WITH HER GUITAR 

SITTING WITH HER LOVER IN THE ORANGE GROVE — 
MAXIMILIAN AND THE BEAUTIFUL CARLOTTA. 

The meeting of President Taft and President Diaz at 
El Paso on the 18th day of October, 1909, is a notable 
event in the history of the two republics. It was not 
so gorgeous and spectacular an occasion as the historic 
interview between Henry YIII, and Francis I, on "The 
Field of the Cloth of Gold." The great Cardinal AVol- 
sey with his elegant manners, gay conversation, insinu- 
ating address and love of magnificence, was not present 
to give eclat to the meeting. The illustrious Cardinal 
in whom was concentrated at this time (1520) all secular 
and religious power in his own country, was notably 
absent. He was not there to have his appetite appeased, 
and his mind and temper conciliated, by the choice 
viands from which, on the former occasion, he derived 
such exquisite delight and satisfaction. Nor was the 
Duke of Buckingham present, he having been executed on 
Tower Hill for the venial offense of expressing his opin- 
ion freely about the expense and absurdity of the whole 
business of the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The meet- 
ing at El Paso was not a dress occasion as was that of the 

213 



A CONGLOMERATE 

two sovereigns; at the meeting of the latter, as the im- 
partial historian informs us, many of the knights and 
gentlemen were so superbly dressed that it was said they 
carried their whole estates upon their shoulders. It 
was, indeed, a gala day at El Paso. Foregathered there 
were many thousands of people. Excursion trains came 
from hundreds of miles away. The American and Mexi- 
can military display was strikingly impressive. The 
cannons roared, the people cheered, and the flags of the 
two nations were everywhere entwined. For the purpose 
of the meeting, the entire international bridge spanning 
the historic Eio Grande was guarded as neutral terri- 
tory. This permitted the Mexican troops to accompany 
their president to the American end of the bridge, while 
similarly the escort of the regular army attending Presi- 
dent Taft was permitted to proceed directly to the bor- 
der line of Mexico. The cities of El Paso and Juarez 
were gorgeously decorated. President Taft arrived in 
El Paso shortly after nine o'clock in the morning. His 
train was met at the city limits by an escort of cavalry 
and the soldiers galloped along behind it as it was drawn 
slowly into the very center of the city. Soon after his 
arrival the president was escorted into the St. Regis 
hotel to be the guest of the El Paso Chambers at break- 
fast. Breakfast ended, President Taft proceeded to the 
Chamber of Commerce to await the coming of Presi- 
dent Diaz, the latter having arrived the day before at 
Juarez. 

The coming of the Mexican executive, whose tem- 
porary quitting of his own territory required the sanc- 
tion of the congress of the republic, was signalled by the 

214 



MEXICO— TAFT AND DIAZ AT EL PASO 

booming of twenty-one guns as President Diaz arrived 
at tlie American border line. He was attended by a 
military escort in full dress uniform. The salute was 
fired by the American forces. 

General J. Franklin Bell, chief of staff of the army, 
met President Diaz as the personal representative of the 
president of the United States. President Diaz, gray 
and grizzled, looking every inch a soldier and a fighter, 
alighted from his gold-trimmed carriage of state and en- 
tered an American equipage, plainly simple. The wel- 
coming party consisted of General Bell, Brigadier Gen- 
eral Meyer, Governor Campbell of Texas and the Mayor 
of El Paso. They shook hands with the distinguished 
visitor, while the American band played the Mexican 
national air, "La Paloma." 

The escorts of the United States troops then pro- 
ceeded to conduct President Diaz to President Taft at 
the Chamber of Commerce. The streets through which 
the Mexican executive and escorts passed were lined with 
thousands of cheering people. 

After the meeting and a light luncheon had been 
served. President Diaz withdrew in the same manner he 
had come being escorted back to the portals of the city, 
where the same courtesies as marked his arrival attended 
his departure. 

The American troops returned to the Chamber of 
Commerce building and escorted President Taft over the 
same route President Diaz had traveled. President 
Taft and the invited guests accompanying him entered 
carriages allotted to them by the Mexican authorities and 
proceeded to the Juarez custom house where they met 

215 



A CONGLOMERATE 

the Mexican president and here the simple ceremonies 
ended. 

When President Taft alighted from his carriage on 
Mexican soil it was the second time in the history of the 
United States that a president of the United States had 
left its borders. Mr. Roosevelt set the precedent when he 
attended a dinner given by the President of Panama on 
Panamanian territory.^ 

There was nothing perfunctory or insincere in the 
meeting of the presidents of the two great republics, 
but its purpose was to make it an informal celebration 
of the most cordial relations existing between the two 
countries. 

The meeting of the two monarchs on the "Field of the 
Cloth of Gold" was characterized by the utmost perfidy 
and bad faith. Henry coveted France and Wolsey covet- 
ed no less a prize than the papacy itself; and, notwith- 
standing the solemn treaty then and there entered into, 
its provisions were rendered nugatory and inoperative, 
by reason of the fact that Henry as he returned from 
the meeting with Francis, sought an interview with 
Charles V, which ended in a secret confederacy of these 
sovereigns and the promise of the Emperor Charles to 
marry Henry's only daughter. If it has not been done 
already, a tablet should be erected upon the site of the 
Field of the Cloth of Gold as a memorial to the perfidy 
of Kings. 

On the 24th of October following the meeting. Presi- 
dent Diaz expressed his impressions of his reception at 

^Associated Press. 

216 



MEXICO— TAFT AND DIAZ AT EL PASO 

El Paso, and his estimate of President Taft, in an inter- 
view at Chapultepec Ca.stle. lie said: 

"As for my personal opinion of President Taft, I can 
say that he is a man of charming personalit}^, frank and 
sincere, whose features carry the unmistakable stamp of 
a man with high consciousness of duty, unmarred by a 
touch of remorse. The interview which I had with 
President Taft was of the most cordial character, and it 
is clear that it will redound to the benefit of both coun- 
tries, owing to the perfect understanding existing be- 
tween the two governments and which was realized pre- 
cisely, through an interview in still further tightening 
the bonds of their friendly and commercial relationship. 
From the commercial standpoint, and politicall}^, both 
countries will be greatly benefitted because of a better 
business understanding between the two peoples, and 
the investment of capital for the development of our 
industries will be accomplished under very favorable 
circumstances. 

^^e Mexicans have plenty of raw material in our 
country — rich natural resources. The Americans have 
capital, talent, energy and they will come to the aid of 
our own enterprising men in the establishment and de- 
velopment of useful and important industries. There- 
fore, with the good understanding between the govern- 
ments of the two countries, men of business can carry 
to successful issue their great enterprises." 

Many of us may not realize the marvelous resources 
and the vast territorial extent of our sister republic. 
Mexico stretches 1,950 miles north-northwest and 

217 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

south-southeast with a mean breadth of 400 miles, vary- 
ing from 1,000 in 26 degrees north to 130 at the narrow- 
est parts of the Tehnantepec isthmus. 

It has a coast line of nearly 6,000 miles, about 4,200 
on the Pacific and 1,600 on the Atlantic. Mexico has 
every variety of climate. 

The central plateaus having an altitude above the sea 
of between 3,000 and 8,000 feet, with a mean tempera- 
ture from 62 degrees to 70 degrees Eahr., and oscillating 
between such moderate extremes as 50 degrees and 86 
degrees, this region enjoys one of the finest climates on 
the globe. Those table lands are described by enthu- 
siastic travelers as "terrestrial Edens'^, with a perennial 
spring, s3^mbolized by the evergreen oak, cedars, and 
many analogous plants, which here attain their greatest 
perfection. ^*^ 

When the subject of Mexico is under consideration 
one's mind naturally reverts back to the condition of 
Mexico prior to the Spanish invasion made under the 
leadership of Hernando Cortes in 1519. This period is 
known as the era of the Montezumas. While it is char- 
acterized by barbaric ostentation yet in many respects it 
was beyond the European level of the time. One of their 
principal amusements was dancing, and a sport called the 
bird dance excited the admiration of foreigners for the 
skill and daring with which groups of performers dress- 
ed as birds let themselves down by ropes wound round 
the top of a high mast, so as to fly whirled in circles far 
above the ground. The magnificence of the palaces of 
the Montezumas with their columns of porphyry and 

" 16 E B 225-6. 

218 



MEXICO— TAFT iVND DIAZ AT EL PASO 

jasper, supporting marble balconies, and their beautiful 
surrounding gardens would be considered marvelous in 
any age or in an}^ country. One of the companions of Cor- 
tes describes a palace visited by him. It consisted of hun- 
dreds of rooms and halls ranged round three open squares, 
with women's apartments, granaries, store houses, 
menageries, aviaries, of such extent that he wandered 
about four times on as many separate visits, without 
seeing the whole. Their cultivation of natural history 
was indeed remarkable. It is said that in the palace 
garden flowers were transplanted, and water fowl bred 
near fresh and salt pools fit for each kind, that all kinds 
of birds and beasts were kept in well appointed zoologi- 
cal gardens where there were homes even for alligators 
and snakes. 

It goes without saying that the subject of courtship 
and marriage is regarded everywhere as one of vital 
interest. In Mexico, under the reigns of the Montezu- 
mas, the important question whether a marriage should 
be consummated was determined by the ipse dixit of 
an astrologer who, for his guidance, compared the horo- 
scopes of the pair to ascertain whether their birth signs 
were compatible. The horoscope was an observation 
made of the aspect of the heavens at the moment of a 
person's birth, by which the astrologer claimed to fore- 
tell the temperament and disposition of the individual as 
well as the events of his life. The most important part 
of the sky in the astrologer's consideration was that part 
of the zodiac which rose at the moment of the child's 
birth. An accurate record of these observations was 

219 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

made at tlie time and was preserved for future use and 
reference. 

It is a matter of history that the belief in astrology 
was almost universal as late as the middle of the 17th 
century; and that, for five centuries previous to that 
time, astrology and divination exercised an influence 
not only over the uneducated, but over the greatest 
minds, over kings and queens and wealthy people; and 
was received and admitted by Lord Bacon himself. 
Even so late as the early part of the 19th century 
astrolog}^ retained an influence over the general mind 
sufiicient to constitute the main spring of romance, as 
witness Scott's charming novel "Guy Mannering, or the 
Astrologer." 

Returning to Mexico and the Montezumas. 

If the astrologer's report w^as favorable to the com- 
patibility of the pair, the next important step was to 
engage the services of an old woman to act as an in- 
termediary or go-between. 

It is plain to be seen that this courtship by proxy, and 
marriage by horoscopy, would practically eliminate from 
life the ante-nuptial association of the sexes. 

We live in an age of progress and innovation, and old 
customs, old fashions, old conventionalities, are constant- 
ly being revamped and brought to the front again; but 
I have grave doubts whether this old custom, which was 
in vogue in Mexico during the reigns of the Montezumas, 
will find a foot-hold in North America; certainly not 
during the next year or two. Of this I am quite sure, 
that if the Astrologer and his old woman intermediary 
should appear at this time with the avowed purpose of 

220 



MEXICO— TAFT AND DIAZ AT EL PASO 

planting on our soil this nefarious system, that they 
would be received with but scant courtesy. 

A profound anatomist of the human heart has de- 
clared that the most delightful period of courtship is 
that which precedes a formal declaration and proposal, 
but during which each is conscious of the other's regard. 
It is during this period when a sunshine seems to prevail 
which fills the heart full of radiance; when one feels 
that to love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of 
existence; a time, when the wild intoxicating dreams 
which fill a young man's mind cause the most delicious 
excitement, and when the mere sound of the rustling of 
a dress excites indescribable emotions. It is an era of 
profound, and sometimes prolonged, silences, even when 
the buzzing of a fly or the fall of a pocket handkerchief 
may be distinctly heard — when, if the silence be broken 
for a moment, the words are as gentle as the moan of a 
wounded dove; a time when conversation, animated or 
otherwise, is not essential to happiness. It is a period 
when a gesture asks a question and an expressive look 
gives the answer. "When one can infuse into the eye 
the power of the soul, to give it the full value of speech 
and throw a poem or a drama into a single flash"; a 
time when tears may dim the eyes but do not fall, being 
absorbed by the heart. Shall all these things cease and 
be no more at the behest of the cold and merciless as- 
trologer ? 

An incident which I am going to relate could never 
have occurred in Mexico in the times of the Montezumas. 
A young gentleman had been paying assiduous atten- 
tion to a young lady for more than two years and, not- 

221 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

withstanding his arduous wooing, she had not consented 
to become his wife. The case seemed almost hopeless; 
but he made a prolonged call on her one Sunday even- 
ing, and before he left she accepted his proposal. Though 
a decade has elapsed since the charming young lady be- 
came his bride, he still relates, with much enthusiasm 
and satisfaction, an account of the return to his home 
by moonlight, at twelve o^clock on that memorable night. 
This was the supreme occasion of his life. He was so 
thrilled and overwhelmed with delight that he found 
himself in a profound revery, and, with uplifted hand, 
declaiming aloud, "I have nothing against any man, 
woman or child in this world." 

Native history and the reigns of the Montezumas 
came to an end with the Spanish conquest. In the 
early years of the sixteenth century the Spaniards dis- 
covered Mexico but had made no attempt to effect a 
settlement. Hernando Cortes, a lad of fifteen, was 
sent to the University of Salamanca; but study was dis- 
tasteful to him, and he returned home in 1501, resolved 
to enter upon a life of adventure. During a brief serv- 
ice in St. Domingo and Cuba he displayed great ability 
on several trying occasions, and the conquest of the newly 
discovered country was intrusted to him. Cortes, young, 
brilliant and courageous, and remarkable for a graceful 
physiognomy and amiable manners, as well as for skill 
and address in all military exercises, accepted the hercu- 
lean task. On the 18th of November, 1518, he set out 
from Spain, with ten vessels, six hundred Spaniards and 
some pieces of cannon, and on the 4th of March, 1519, 
he landed on the coast of Mexico, taking possession of 

222 



MEXICO— TAFT AXD DIAZ AT EL PASO 

the town of Tabasco. He proceeded to burn his vessels to 
cut off the possibility of retreat, and to show his soldiers 
that they must either conquer or perish. He here learn- 
ed that the native sovereign was called Montezuma ; that 
he reigned over an extensive empire, which had lasted 
for three centuries and that his riches were immense 
and his power absolute. No more was necessary to in- 
flame the ambition of the invader who did not hesitate 
to undertake the conquest of this great empire, which 
could only be effected by combining stratagem and ad- 
dress with force and courage. ^^ 

Nothing in romance is more fascinating than a detailed 
account of his career and service, his battles and brilliant 
exploits, in effecting the conquest of this vast empire; 
but it is no part of our purpose in this paper to enter 
into those matters of detail. Suffice it to say that on 
the 7th of July 1520, Cortes gained a victory which de- 
cided the fate of Mexico. The historian declares^ ^ that 
his uniform success was entirely owing to his genius 
and valor, and his profound but unscrupulous policy, 
and the account of his success, which he transmitted to 
Spain excited the admiration of his countrymen, and 
Charles V, then emperor of Spain, appointed him gover- 
nor and captain-general of Mexico. The Mexicans were 
everywhere forced to yield to the ascendency of European 
discipline and valor. 

Meanwhile the court of Madrid, dreading the ambition 
and popularity of the victorious chief, sent commissioners 
to watch his conduct and thwart his proceedings ; and 
whilst he was completing the conquest of New Spain 

" E. Britannica. " E. B. 

223 



A CONGLOMERATE 

his goods were seized and his retainers imprisoned and 
put into irons. Indignant at the ingratitude of his sov- 
ereign, Cortes returned in person to Spain to appeal to 
the justice of the emperor and appeared there with great 
splendor. 

The emperor received him with every mark of dis- 
tinction. Cortes returned to Mexico with new titles 
but diminished authority, a viceroy having been en- 
trusted with the administration of civil affairs, whilst 
the military department, with permission to push his 
conquests, was all that remained to Cortes. Contro- 
versies arose and Cortes, tired of struggling with ad- 
versaries unworthy of him, he returned to Europe hoping 
to confound his enemies. 

We read that upon his return to Spain "he was re- 
ceived coldly; he fell into neglect, and could scarcely 
obtain an audience. One day, however, having forced 
his way through the crowd which surrounded the em- 
peror's carriage, and mounted on the doorstep, Charles, 
astonished at an act of such audacity, demanded to know 
who he was. *I am a man,' replied the conqueror of 
Mexico proudly, Vho has given you more provinces 
than your ancestors left you cities.' This haughty 
declaration of important services ill requited could 
scarcely fail to offend a monarch on whom fortune had 
lavished its choicest favors; and Cortes, overwhelmed 
with disgust, withdrew from court, passed the remainder 
of his days in solitude, and died near Seville on the 2nd 
of December, 1554. 

But it would seem that ingratitude for patriotic serv- 
ice is not the exclusive prerogative of emperors and 

224 



MEXICO— TAFT AND DIAZ AT EL PASO 

kings. That of Charles Y has almost a parallel in our 
own country in the case of Admiral Dewey. His splen- 
did and heroic performance with his fleet in Manila 
Bay in the early morning of that memorable 1st day of 
May, entitles him to the profoundest gratitude of his 
own countrymen, as it has justly excited the admiration 
of the whole world. We all remember with shame the 
attempt made by unscrupulous politicians and some of 
the newspapers of the country, upon a miserable pretext, 
and for selfish and unworthy purposes, to mar the fame 
and detract from the glory of the great admiral. The 
offense they committed was no less despicable than that 
of arson or grand larceny, and in its enormity, is in- 
dissolubly associated in one's mind with the atrocious 
and revolting crime of Burking, which was first com- 
mitted by the Irishman Burke in 1829. 

The historian of the future will say of Dewey as wa3 
said of another great commander centuries ago, that he 
was "in war a whirlwind, in peace a zephyr." His name 
is already inscribed high in the temple of fame and there 
it will remain forever. 

In reading an account of the cordial meeting of Presi- 
dents Taft and Diaz at El Paso, on the border line be- 
tween the two republics, one's mind naturally reverts 
back to the time when the relations of the two countries 
were not so cordial and harmonious. We are reminded of 
the fact that Mr. Polk, the Democratic President, de- 
clared that "war exists by the act of Mexico"; and that 
there was a very formidable opposition to the war made 
by the Whig party and many of its great leaders. Mr. 
Corwin, the celebrated Ohio orator and statesman, de- 

225 



A CONGLOMERATE 

clared in substance that, "If I were a Mexican 
as I am an American I would welcome the 
American invader with bloody hands to a hospitable 
grave." Eufus Choate, the eminent advocate, expressed 
profound sympathy with the Mexican people on account 
of the alleged aggressive and unwarranted action of the 
United States, and his sympathy was even extended to 
them in the most tender and delicate relations of life. 
In a voice like a sweet, yet powerful flute, he declared 
that "The Mexican maiden, as she sits with her lover 
among the orange groves, will sing to her guitar the 
story of these times. ^Ah, woe is me, Alhama !' for a 
thousand years to come." 

The war with Mexico, which followed closely the 
annexation of Texas, was of short duration, and resulted 
in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2nd, 
1848, by which New Mexico, California, Utah and Ari- 
zona were ceded to the United States. 

The two countries are to be congratulated upon the 
cordial and fraternal relations that now exist between 
them — and also the Mexican maiden so delightfully 
situated amongst the orange groves. She no longer 
sings to her guitar "doleful ditties," but rather a song 
expressive of undying affection for the dear lover who 
sits beside her. We turn for a moment to the brief and 
unfortunate reign of the emperor Maximilian. Nothing 
in history nor romance has ever painted an3^thing more 
tragic than the fate that awaited the emperor and his 
wife, the beautiful and accomplished Carlotta. 

One of the fondest dreams of Napoleon III was a 
universal fusion of the Latin races and, in furtherance 

226 



MEXICO— TAFT AND DIAZ AT EL PASO 

of this end, he offered the Mexican imperial crown to 
the Austrian archduke, Ferdinand Maximilian. The 
latter had already been tendered the crown by a deputa- 
tion of notables from Mexico who spoke of the "fecun- 
dity of the soil, the excellence of the fruits, the mildness 
of the seasons, the beauty of the landscape, in a land 
where nature is one perpetual smile." Maximilian 
finally acepted the crown in 1863. 

No more propitious time could have been selected by 
Napoleon for consummating his cherished scheme in 
respect to Mexico, as interference by the government at 
Washington was absolutely impracticable, on account of 
the Civil War which was then in progress, and the result 
of which was at that time decidely problematical. 

Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, was a second son of 
Archduke Francis Charles, and was born in Vienna on 
July 6th, 1832. He was trained for the navy, and ulti- 
mately attained a high command in that branch of his 
country's service. In 1857, he married the Princess 
Carlotta, daughter of Leo I, King of the Belgians. 

It was on the 28th of May 1864, that Maximilian and 
Carlotta landed at Vera Cruz, a city at that season 
ravaged by yellow fever, and they found the inhabitants 
unfavorably disposed toward the empire. We read^^ 
that from the commencement of his reign he found him- 
self involved in difficulties of the most serious kind, 
which in 1866 made it apparent to every one outside of 
Mexico the necessity for his abdicating. The Civil War 
in the United States being now a thing of the past, and 
the French government, in obedience to importunate 

" 15 E. B. 

227 



A CONGLOMEKATE 

demands from Washington for the repatriation of the 
French troops in Mexico, having yielded, Maximilian 
was left to his fate. He declined to abdicate, however, 
but on May 15th, 1867, he resolved to attempt an escape 
through the enemy's lines. He was arrested before he 
could carry out his resolution, and after trial by court- 
martial, was condemned to death. The sentence was 
carried out on June 19th, 1887. His remains were con- 
veyed to Vienna, where they were buried in the imperial 
vault early in the following year. 

It has been said of Maximilian^* that he had never 
been trained to anything but what gave him pleasure. 
That he knew nothing of the luxury and divine exalta- 
tion of being useful to anybody but himself; but the 
same writer adds that he was refined, accomplished, 
handsome and in a way educated, but had never known 
what it was to bear any responsibility. It may, with 
propriety, be suggested that inasmuch as Maximilian 
had been trained for the navy, and had ultimately at- 
tained a high command in that branch of his country's 
service, that his life had not been entirely devoid of 
responsibility. 

The widowed Carlotta laments that Maximilian was 
induced to accept the proffered crown. Her letters, 
written after her husband's execution, are strangely and 
beautifully pathetic. She writes : 

"Ambition kindles in the eyes of a man a diabolic 
luster, and converts an angel into a devil. The man who 
wishes to become a king turns into a demon. * * * 
The deputation spoke of the fecundity of the soil, the 

" Bigelow. 

328 



EECONSTRUCTION 

excellence of the fruits, the mildness of the seasons, the 
beauties of the landscape in a land where nature is one 
perpetual smile." 

Again she writes: ^'There are two kinds of fever, 
Maria Victoria — that of the body and that of the spirit. 
That of the body kills. That of the spirit maddens/' 

Mexico has had a chequered history, but during the 
period of more than forty years that has elapsed since 
the execution of Maximilian, she has enjoyed a peace 
and prosperit}^ such as she had never enjoyed before. 
With her boundless natural resources, and a continuance 
of the present wise administration of her governmental 
affairs, Mexico has, indeed, a most brilliant future. ^^ 



RECONSTRUCTIOX — SEPTEMBER 14tH AT NEW ORLEANS. 

During one of our numerous sojourns in Asheville, 
North Carolina, I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Lea 
McLean Eenshaw of N'ew Orleans. I found him to be 
a gentleman of much intelligence and refinement. He 
gave me a very full account of the stirring and excitng 
events that occurred in his city on the 14th of Sep- 
tember, 1874. His father, then a very young man, was 
an active participant in those scenes and ranked as 
lieutenant in Company G, Captain Kilpatrick's com- 

^ How true it is that one can not tell what a day will 
bring forth. When the foregoing essay was written, judg- 
ing from surface indications, Mexico bid fair to enjoy a 
long period of peace and prosperity. Now Diaz is an exile, 
Madero is president, and chaos and confusion reign su- 
preme throughout the republic. 

229 



A COjSTGLOMEEATE 

mand. I was intensely interested in his narrative large- 
ly on account of my vivid boyhood experience as a mid- 
shipman on the Confederate steamers Jackson and 
Corondolet in 1861-2; the former operating on the 
Mississippi river and the latter on Lake Pontchartrain 
and adjacent waters. 

On the 14th of September, 1909, Mr. Eenshaw wrote 
me as follows: 

"My dear Mr. Daugherty: 

The date of this letter itself may recall to you my 
promise to let yon know something more about the 
Fourteenth of September, and I enclose an article giving 
an account of it, clipped from the Times-Democrat which 
I hope will prove interesting to you. My father ranked 
Lieutenant in Company G, Captain Kilpatrick's Com- 
mand. 

My sister and I have spoken often of 3^ou and your 
wife and trust it may some day be the good fortune that 
we meet again. 

Yours very truly, 
LEA McLEAN EENSHAW." 

In reply I wrote to Mr. Eenshaw as follows : 

"My dear Mr. Eenshaw: 

Your favor enclosing clippings from the Times- 
Democrat in respect to the observance of September 
fourteenth received. I had not forgotten your promise 
and I wish to thank you for the clippings. 

230 



RECOXSTEUCTION 

I have always been intensely interested in Xew Orleans 
largel}', no doubt, on account of my boyhood experiences 
on the Jackson and Corondolet in 1861-2. 

Your father must have a most vivid recollection of the 
exciting exents of that memorable day in 1874. 

The most radical Northerner, being advised of the 
facts and conditions then existing, could not fail to com- 
mend the patriotic action of the White League ; and it is, 
indeed, most fitting that a monument should mark the 
spot where the great victory was achieved over negro and 
carpet-bag domination, and which will perpetuate the 
names and deeds of the valiant citizens who died for the 
cause of home government. 

M}^ wife joins me in kind regards to your sister and 
yourself, and in the wish that somewhere — sometime — 
W'C may meet again. 

Very sincerely, 

H. H. DAUGHEETY." 

Many fine things have been said of the Republican 
party, but it seems now to be generally agreed that the 
reconstruction policy during the "dark decade," is an 
indelible stain upon that party — one that all ocean's 
waters can never wash out. 

I had a personal friend who visited New Orleans 
during the Reconstruction era and at a time when the 
negro and carpet-bag legislature was in session. He 
had been a brigade surgeon in the Union army during 
the entire w^ar. This gentleman assured me that his 
observations on this visit were the severest test his Re- 
publicanism ever had. That tins delectable legislature 

231 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

made all manner of silly, grotesque, and extravagantly 
wild appropriations; that property in New Orleans at 
that time would not sell for enough to pay the taxes ; that 
the members of this unique body jumped over chairs 
and tables, like monkeys in the forests of Sumatra, in 
their wild scramble to get their hands in the public 
treasury. 

It was about this time that Horace Greeley advised 
and declared that when these people used the word 
"pray^' they should spell it "prey". 

Even Senator Hoar of Massachusetts, all of whose 
principles and predilections had been ultra anti-southern, 
declared, in articulo mortis, "That it was impossible not 
to feel a certain sympathy with a people, who whatever 
else had been their faults never had been guilty of cor- 
ruption or meanness, or the desire to make money out 
of public office, in the intolerable loathing which they 
felt for these strangers who had taken possession of the 
high places in their states." The senator further declared 
that "When the support of the national administration 
was withdrawn, the negro and carpet-bag majority was 
powerless as a flock of sheep before a pack of wolves to 
resist their brave and unscrupulous Democratic enemy, 
however inferior the latter in numbers." 

Mr. Blaine, the brilliant, aggressive Mephistopheles 
of the Eepublican party, and an ardent advocate of his 
party's reconstruction policy, at last discovered, using 
his own words, "that the American people have an in- 
stinctive hostility against the use of troops at elections; 
and he finally deduced and enunciated the great philo- 
sophical truth that "The task of enforcing obedience to 

232 



RECONSTRUCTION 

laws, when obedience is not in the hearts of the people, 
is the most difficult undertaking ever imposed upon the 
governing power." 

Eminent foreigners who were sincere friends of the 
Union, and in full sympathy with the government at 
Washington in its efforts to preserve it, were not oblivious 
of the horrors of reconstruction. The Conte De Monta- 
lambert in a letter addressed to Mr. Bigelow, the dis- 
tinguished American Ambassador to France, declared: 

"I cannot conceal from you that there still remains 
one shadow, not so sa}^ one stain, on the flag of your 
glorious country — the consequences of that confiscation 
which has been denounced against the conquered. I 
know not what great statesman it was who said that one 
incurred less danger in killing people than in despoiling 
them. Nothing is more true. You can find confirma- 
tion of it in the modern history of France. It is by 
confiscation far more than by its scaffold that the French 
rcTolution has deposited in the soul of our country those 
deadly germs of discord which time has not even yet 
extirpated." 

Goldwin Smith attributes the failure and shame of the 
policy of reconstruction to two causes: the exclusion of 
the Southern leaders from the work and the death of 
Lincoln. Mr. Smith says : "How Lincoln would have 
dealt with reconstruction is a secret buried in his grave ; 
more wisely, it may be safely assumed, than did Charles 
Sumner and the other fiery and reyengeful politicians 
into whose hands, after his death, the question passed. 
His character, whatever his theory, would have guided 
him and the state aright." 

233 



A COISTGLOMEEATE 

The people of the South were goaded to desperation 
and it became absolutely a question of self-preservation. 
To the devastation and desolation resulting from the 
prolonged vrar was added the horrible crime of spoliation 
— comparable in wickedness to the worst of the Italian 
banditti, who, whenever they robbed, were sure to 
murder. 

It was at New Orleans on the memorable 14th of 
September, 1874, that the backbone of negro and 
carpet-bag domination in the South was broken. On 
this day occurred the overthrow by the Crescent City 
White League of the power of the Metropolitan Police, 
the armed strength of the carpet-bagger rule of Louis- 
iana under the Republican party. In the battle between 
the police composed of 1,200 well armed men, and the 
Citizens' League, numbering two hundred and fifty, 
twelve citizens were killed and over fifty of the police. 
The accounts of the battle and the events leading up to 
it published in the local newspapers are thrilling in the 
extreme. 

The battle took place in Canal street, between the 
Custom House and the river, a monument now standing 
on the spot which was in the thickest of the fray. On 
this monument are the names of the citizens who lost 
their lives in the revolt against negro and carpet-bagger 
rule. 

Those who were in the city's streets that day recall 
its unparalleled incidents vividly. The South was in 
the throes of reconstruction. The Eepublicans and 
carpet-baggers ruled the state, placing negroes in office, 
on the bench, and in the police force. For years this 

234 



RECONSTRUCTION 

condition had existed, and conditions were well nigh 
intolerable. White men were jostled on the sidewalks 
by negroes, and white women were openly insulted by 
the uniformed negro policemen. The city had the ap- 
pearance of a stronghold in the hands of the enemy. 
There were three regiments of negro militia, two regi- 
ments of the United States army, and worst of all there 
was the heavily armed Metropolitan Police force of 
twelve hundred men, one hundred mounted, the best 
equipped body of men in the world. 

Police were everywhere armed with Winchester rifles. 
Tn Canal street each night about one hundred were 
stationed in the distance from Rampart street to the 
river. Then there were the mounted patrolmen, carry- 
ing eight-shot carbines, revolvers and sabers. General 
A. S. Badger, who had been a Federal officer in the Civil 
War, was in command of the police. So far as drill, 
equipment and appearance were concerned they gave the 
impression of regular soldiers. 

Leading white citizens resolved to rid themselves of 
the yoke, if need be at the cost of their lives. So, se- 
cretly, the Crescent City White League was formed. 
Gen.^'w. J. Behan, Fred M. Ogden, C. H. Allen, Col. 
John Anzell and Archibald Mitchell wexe the moving 
spirits. 

They chose their men carefully, and the organization 
was drilled thoroughly, but in absolute secrecy. The 
police suspected a movement of the kind, but were 
unable to track it down. 

When all was ready arms were ordered from New 
York, to come on the steamship Mississippi of the Crom- 

235 



A CONGLOMERATE 

well Line. The steamship arrived at her wharf Septem- 
ber 11th, the arms on deck. The police and the big 
detective force became aware of the shipment of the 
arms and declared the citizens never should have them, 
Feeling was high, and it was plain there soon must be 
a clash. 

Brands in power, therefore were the speeches of 
Thomas J. Semmes and others to a great mass meeting 
of probably fifteen thousand people, called together in 
front of the Crescent Hall, at St. Charles and Canal 
streets, on the morning of September 14th 1874. Judge 
R. H. Marr made the last speech of the day. His part- 
ing advice was that it was the duty of every white man 
to go to his home, procure arms, and hasten to Poydras 
street to obtain the arms on the Mississippi by force, if 
necessary. 

A regatta of the Carrolton Rowing Club was set for 
that afternoon, and thousands, believing there would be 
no trouble prepared to attend, and after securing their 
noonday meal at their homes, proceeded to Canal street 
to take the excursion boats to Carrolton. 

When they came to Canal street they found the entire 
twelve hundred of the Metropolitan Police lined up in 
battle array from Magazine street to the Louisville and 
Nashville station. 

They were in four ranks, with two twelve-inch Na- 
poleon guns near the river, two one-inch Gatling guns 
sweeping the levee, two twelve-pound howitzers in the 
center, and two twelve-pound Napoleon guns at the 
right. The police stood silent, awaiting the inevitable 
battle. 

236 



RECOXSTRUCTION 

General Fred jN". Ogden was in command of the White 
League, and displayed much strategical ability. In fact, 
it was his strategy which won the day. His force gath- 
ered at Poydras and Tchoiipitoulas streets. Company 
C, under the command of Capt. Samuel Buck, and Com- 
pany G, under the command of Capt. Douglas M. Kil- 
patrick, moved out Poydras street to the levee. 

Company B under the command of Capt. Horace 
Shropshire, and a Company under the command of 
Capt. Columbus Allen went down Tchoupitoulas street, 
and Capt. John AnzelFs battalion came down Peters 
street. Capt. Archinard Peck commanded two pieces 
of artillery, and Capt. Guibet, with a large company, 
stood ready to protect the arms on the Mississippi, taking 
his stand at St. Louis and Decatur streets. 

STRATEGY USED. 

The command was given to march. Gen. Ogden led 
the way. Company C proceeded down the levee. A 
Louisville and Nashville train pulled along slowly into 
Canal street and the company marched under its pro- 
tection, by prearrangement. Suddenly, at Canal street, 
a signal was given and the freight"' train moved out 
rapidly, disclosing to the astonished gaze of the police 
the whole company drawn up in battle order in Canal 
street. 

"Commence firing !" was the command of Gen. Badger, 
and the citizens took this as their command also, and 
poured four volleys into the ranks of the police. It M-as 
a flank fire and deadly. A score or more toppled over 

237 



A COISTGLOMEEATE 

and the day was won^ for the negroes and declassed 
whites who made up the organization were demoralized 
completely and began to flee. At this moment the ether 
companies poured out from Magazine, Tchoupitoulas 
and Peters streets, and also began firing. 

Gen. Behan was by this time in command, as Gen. 
Ogden's horse had been shot from under him, and as the 
horse fell he was pitched headlong onto a Tchoupitoulas 
street banquette, the fall knocking him insensible. 

The police, as they fled, discarded guns, hats, coats, 
ammunition, everything which would hamper their 
speed. They fled into the Custom House and down the 
streets, many taking refuge in the Third Precinct Police 
Station, then the state arsenal. Their arms were picked 
up where they dropped them and were used by their 
pursuers. 

Gen. Badger, it is remembered, was really brave, and 
stood his ground until he toppled over, shot many times 
and severely wounded. The crowd which had watched 
the battle, unmindful of its danger, was for killing him, 
but Capt. Kilpatrick, revolver in one hand, sword in the 
other, stood with one foot on each side of the General's 
prostrate body and promised to kill the first who at- 
tempted to touch the wounded man. The General es- 
caped, but narowly, for it was remembered that in 1871 
he had ordered his police to fire upon an unarmed mass 
meeting in Jackson Square. 

AAHien the police had been driven from the field the 
White League was drawn up in battle line on the neu- 
tral ground in Canal street for roll call. Here it was 
that Toledano was killed, shot from behind, and ap- 

238 



RECONSTRUCTION 

parently by some one who had taken refuge in the 
Custom House. 

The League then marched to the police stations and 
turned out the police, took charge of the City Hall and 
of the government. 

One of the most astonishing things about the whole 
battle was the behavior of the crowd. Cheering thou- 
sands watched the conflict from every vantage point. 
They crowded every window, doorway and balcony which 
offered a view of the scene, and they filled the street at 
the very edge of the lines of fighters. No one apparent- 
ly ever thought of danger, but gazed on the battle as if 
it were a panorama arranged for some great holiday. 

The newsboys were recklessness personified. They 
darted in and out between the lines of men and in front 
of the very guns. When the police fled the newsboys 
were close behind them, themselves picking up the 
Winchesters w^iich the frightened constabulary were 
throwing aside. ^^ 

Thus was broken the backbone of negro and carpet- 
bag rule in the South ; and it was not long till Nicholls 
was installed as Democratic Governor, succeeding Kel- 
logg the carpet-bag Governor. Of the story of Septem- 
ber 14th 1874, but little is known to the present genera- 
tion; indeed, we are advised that the textbooks in the 
public schools are strangely silent on the subject. The 
fall of carpet-bag government in the South is an event 
of as much historical importance as the demolition of 

^^'For the detailed account of the stirring events of Sep- 
tember 14, 1874, we are indebted to the New Orleans Times- 
Democrat. 

239 



A CONGLOMERATE 

the French Bastile in 1789, and its lesson should be im- 
pressed upon the minds of the young, thus inculcating 
not only a love of liberty but a hatred of oppression. 

On the spot where the battle took place a monument 
was erected, some years ago, commemorating the event 
that gave to Louisiana and the South their political 
liberty. On the monument is inscribed the names and 
deeds of the valiant citizens that died for the cause of 
home government. Annuall}^, on the 14th of September, 
the people congregate at the monument and, with floral 
decorations and appropriate ceremonies, indicate to the 
world that they have forgotten neither the event, so 
important in its consequences, nor those who perished 
there. 



A EEMINISCEISTCE OF THE SEVENTIES. 

ALASKA DEMOCRATIC RALLY HENDRICKS — VOORHEES — 

RISE-UP- WILLIAM ALLEN. 

Mr. Webster speaking of England declared, "that her 
morning drum-beat circles the earth with an unbroken 
strain of her martial airs,^^ and it has been said of our 
own country that before the sun sets upon Alaska he has 
risen upon Maine. 

This indicates the vast extent of the United States, 
but gives no adequate conception of the immensity of 
Alaska alone. It exceeds in its entire area a half million 
square miles. Its extreme length is about eleven hun- 
dred miles; its extreme width about eight hundred. It 
stretches three hundred and fifty miles beyond Behring 

240 



A EEMINISCENCE OF THE SEVENTIES 

straits ; and borders upon the Arctic ocean for more than 
a thousand miles. In 1876 it was ceded to the United 
States for a money payment of seven million two hun- 
dred thousand dollars, and, in the month of October of 
that year, the possession of the country was formally 
made over to a military force of the United States at 
New Archangel. 

Many years ago, sometime in the seventies, I believe, 
in the midst of a very exciting political campaign, it was 
announced in the newspapers that on a certain day 
Daniel W. Voorhees, Thomas A. Hendricks and former 
governor William Allen, would address a great Demo- 
cratic rally at Loveland, Ohio. A party of us from 
Shelbyville decided to attend. We were full to the brim 
with Democratic enthusiasm and, it was our unanimous 
conclusion, that no other trio of Democratic statesmen 
could at any time be found, more capable than this one, 
of working the complete theoretical demolition of the 
Eepublican party. Indeed, we all felt that the majestic 
oratory of Voorhees, the persuasive eloquence of Hen- 
dricks, and the sledge-hammer blows of Eise-up-William 
Allen — in combination — would leave nothing remaining 
of the Grand Old Party — save the cellar and the well. 

It was a beautiful autumn morning when we boarded 
the train for Loveland via Cincinnati. Our journey 
thither was devoid of incident or excitement, except that 
the enthusiasm increased as we were joined on the train 
by others whose destination and patriotic purpose were 
the same as our own. However, there was one exhibition 
of beautiful irony that I must not omit to mention. 
There were several ladies in our party, among them a 

241 



A CONGLOMERATE 

charming girl of eighteen summers. She was so exquisite- 
ly fascinating in appearance and bearing, that the sight 
of her could not fail to quicken the pulse of any young 
gentleman, regardless of his political predilections. 
When the train stopped at the village of Adams, in 
Decatur county, she put her head out of the window to 
see the crowd at the station. Three young men about 
her own age were standing not far away from the train. 
One of them, addressing the other two, declared in an 
audible voice, "Look at the girl with her head out of the 
window. She is the ugliest girl I ever saw in all my 
life.^' 

We arrived at Loveland in due time — the great crowd 
had assembled and were waiting to hear the Democratic 
gospel expounded by three of the party's greatest advo- 
cates. The speakers finally arrived and the speaking 
began. The meeting from a Democratic standpoint was 
a glorious success, our fondest hopes having been more 
than realized. 

The power of Hendricks over a popular audience was 
marvelous. I have said in another place, referring to 
Hendricks in the practice of his profession, that he, like 
Bush, the great Irish lawyer, could "hand up a point of 
law to the court with as much grace and pliancy of 
gesture as if he were presenting a court lady with a 
fan" ; it may be said, with truth, that he presented to a 
popular audience, with equal grace and propriety of 
gesture, the great truths of Democracy. 

Hendricks owed much of his power to the charm of 
his personality. His appeals to the passions and the 
understanding were equally effective. So magnetic was 

242 



A REMINISCENCE OF THE SEVENTIES 

he, that he could not open his lips or lift his hand, with- 
out instantly engaging the rapt attention of his audi- 
ence. He possessed in a higher degree than any one I 
ever heard what might be termed the power of interrog- 
ative orator}^, bringing forth numerous responses from 
his audience, after the manner of the old fashioned 
Methodist camp meeting. For example, Hendricks 
would say after making an impassioned statement, "I 
appeal to you, my countrymen, is not that true ?" with a 
response like this: "True as Gospel, Tommy— hit 'em 
again." 

The ornate and majestic eloquence of Voorhees deeply 
stirred the audience. After his merciless excoriations of 
the Republican party and its leaders, he, like the eagle, 
"with crimsoned beak and bloody talons, soared aloft 
and bathed his plumage in the clouds." 

Voorhees was aggressive. In a legislative body, in 
joint debate, or in the face of any opposition, he would 
exhibit what John Randolph called "a talent for turbu- 
lence." 

Rise-up- William Allen portrayed in thunderous tones 
the inherent and acquired wickedness of the Republican 
party. His indictment charged that party and its 
leaders, especially Mr. Seward, with nearly all the of- 
fenses known to the catalogue of crime. Among other 
things, he asserted that the country was indebted to the 
Democratic party for our vast and valuable territorial 
acquisitions, made since the adoption of the Federal 
Constitution. That the Republican party, through one 
of its leaders, William H. Seward, had expended a vast 
sum of the people's money, more than seven millions 

243 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

of dollars, in the purchase of Alaska, an immense unin- 
habitable iceberg lying in the shadow of the North Pole, 
and, at the same time were, and had been for years, 
engaged in the flagitious occupation of giving as sub- 
sidies to corporations, an enormous area of the valuable 
territory acquired by and through the wisdom, states- 
manship, and diplomacy, of the Democratic party. 

We all know, at this time, that Governor Allen's 
speech so far as it related to Alaska was based upon a 
vast amount of misinformation. He certainly had no 
conception of its enormous wealth in its mines, its vast 
forests, in the furs of its wild animals, saying nothing 
of the fish with which its rivers and seas abound. He 
was equally misinformed as to its climate. That of the 
Southwest portion is mild, considering its high altitude. 
The great warm current of the Pacific, sweeping in a 
northeasterly circuit from the East India Islands and 
corresponding very much in character and effects to the 
Gulf stream of the Atlantic, washes its shores and great- 
ly modifies its temperature. 

Neither in private nor public life did Mr. Seward 
ever make so good an investment as he made when he 
purchased Alaska. Considering its enormous wealth, 
the price he paid for it was, indeed, a mere bagatelle. 

But one untoward incident marred the pleasure of 
our day. After the meeting, a very enthusiastic member 
of our party imbibed too freely and became thoroughly 
intoxicated. I never heard of his being in this condition 
before or since. Pie was an estimable gentleman of 
intelligence and respectability, and I am quite sure it 
was an accident. It was well that we were able to con- 

244 



WISE AND BENEFICENT LAWS 

ceal from the general public the fact of his intoxication. 
In the then temper of the public mind, a malevolent 
Eepublican toxicologist would have taken exquisite de- 
light in declaring that our companion did the best thing 
possible when he imbibed so freely. He would have 
said, that as atropine, extracted from the deadly night- 
shade, is a counter-poison to an overdose of morphia, 
so whisky is equally efficacious as a counter-poison to 
an overdose of democracy. But our Eepublican friends 
never found it out. 

It was indeed a glorious day for democracy, but I 
must frankly confess that it was a cold day for Alaska. 



WISE AND BENEFICENT LAWS. 

CLASS LEGISLATION PROTECTION ELECTION OF UNITED 

STATES SENATORS BY THE PEOPLE CAPITAL AND LABOR. 

Government and laws have much to do with the hap- 
piness of the individual citizen. But it has been ob- 
served that the bulk of mankind on their part are not 
excessively curious concerning any theories, so long as 
they are really happy ; and that one sure symptom of an 
ill-conducted state is the propensity of people to resort 
to them. We conceive it to be a question of primary 
importance tliat there should be a clear and complete 
recognition of the fact, that societies and laws exist only 
for the purpose of increasing the sum of private happi- 
ness; and, using the wise and sententious utterance of 
Edmund Burke, that "Governments are practical things, 
not toys for speculists and demagogues to play with." 

245 



A CONGLOMERATE 

We all fully appreciate the absurdity of praising or 
condemning a constitution in the abstract. We must 
have an exact and complete knowledge of the people who 
are to be governed by it — of their intelligence, disposi- 
tion, temperament and environment, before we can pro- 
nounce a constitution to be good; and we may accept, 
without question, Macaulay's definition of a good gov- 
ernment as being one that, like a good coat, fits the body 
for which it was designed. He affirms what is obvious, 
that one who says a constitution is good without an 
exact knowledge of the people to be governed by it, 
judges as absurdly as a "tailor who should measure the 
Belvidere Apollo for the clothes of all his customers." 
In the same connection, he pronounces as equally ridicu- 
lous to all men of sense and candor, the demagogues 
who wished to see Portugal a republic, and the wise 
critics who revile the Virginians for not having insti- 
tuted a peerage. He declares that "From the despotism 
of St. Petersburg to the democracy of Washington, there 
is scarcely a form of government which might not, at 
least, in some hypothetical case, be the best possible." 

The Englishman boldly asserts that the English con- 
stitution is the perfection of political wisdom, because 
it contains the virtues of monarchy, aristocracy and 
democracy, without the faults which would attend any 
of these varieties of government unmodified by the 
other. Goldsmith in his day pronounced the English 
government the finest model of civil society — one "in 
which subordination and liberty were blended in just 
proportions." 

246 



WISE AND BENEFICENT LAWS 

The historian of the period declares that the form of 
government instituted at Philadelphia is in its ground- 
work and principal features a restriction and perfecting 
of the ancient constitutional liberties of England. 

We learn from "The Federalist/' that inexhaustible 
reservoir of political wisdom, that the ideal system is 
one which combines the energy of government with the 
security of private rights. And where should the stu- 
dent of the science of government turn, if not to the 
Federalist? It was said of Alexander Hamilton, its 
principal author, that his industry was marvelous, and 
his learning equal to the creative faculty of his mind; 
that he possessed in the highest degree the rare faculty 
of being able to see consequents 3^et dormant in their 
principals. 

It has been asserted by a high English authority^ ^ 
that his writings exhibit an extent and precision of in- 
formation, a profundity of research, and an accurate- 
ness of understanding which would have done honor to 
the most illustrious statesmen of ancient or modern 
times — that for comprehension of design, strength, 
clearness and simplicity they have no parallel. Talley- 
rand called the attention of European statesmen to the 
merits of the Federalist as a "copious source of correct 
maxims and profound thought;" and Guizot says, that 
in the application of elementary principles of govern- 
ment to practical administration, it was the greatest 
work known to him. Guizot adds, "There is not in the 
Constitution of the United States an element of order, 

"11 E. Britannica. 

247 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

of force, of duration, which Hamilton did not power- 
fully contribute to introduce into it and to cause to pre- 
dominate." 

In government, durability is one of the chief elements 
of strength, for it has been observed that it is the ex- 
perience of mankind that nothing is either feared or 
loved but what is likely to endure. 

When Montesquieu declared that a republic was prac- 
ticable only in a small country with a very limited 
population, he doubtless used the word as being syn- 
onymous with democracy. As now understood, there is 
indeed a vast difference between a democracy and a re- 
public. A pure democracy is a society consisting of a 
small number of citizens, who assemble and administer 
the government in person. Of such democracies it has 
been said "that they have ever been spectacles of turbu- 
lence and contention ; have ever been found incompatible 
with personal security, or the rights of property; and 
have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have 
been violent in their deaths. Theoretic politicians who 
have patronized this species of government, have er- 
roneously supposed that by reducing mankind to a 
perfect equality in their political rights, they would, at 
the same time, be perfectly equalized and assimilated in 
their possessions, their opinions, and their passions." 

A republic is a government in which the scheme of 
representation takes place; and the two great points 
of difference between a democracy and a republic, as 
pointed out by the Federalist, are, first, the delegation of 
the government, in the latter, to a small number of 
citizens elected by the rest ; secondly, the greater number 

248 



WISE AND BENEFICENT LAWS 

of citizens, and greater sphere of country, over wliicli the 
latter may be extended. 

There are many words and phrases the meaning of 
which are by some imperfectly understood. Among 
the number are "civil liberty" and "liberty" as contra- 
distinguished from license or licentiousness. 

Liberty and authority are inherent enemies and con- 
stantly confront one another. A free and good govern- 
ment has been defined to be that in which the two are 
brought the most nearly into harmonious action ; ^^Vlien 
there is as much liberty and as little restraint imposed 
on it by authority as is compatible with the peace and 
safety of the whole, and of each individual. When this 
practical balance is obtained, it is designated by the 
phrase civil liberty." 

Bishop Butler, in a sermon preached before the House 
of Lords, clearly defines licentiousness. He declares 
it to be such an excess of liberty as is of the same 
nature with tyranny. He inquires, "^Vhat is the differ- 
ence between them but that one is lawless power exer- 
cised under pretense of authority, or by being invested 
with it; the other, lawless power exercised under the 
pretense of libert}^, or without any pretense at all? 
A people, then, must always be less free, in proportion 
as they are more licentious; licentiousness being not 
only different from libert}^, but distinctly contrary to 
it, a direct breach upon it." 

Among the governments instituted among men, that 
of Lycurgus is unique. He seems to have ignored the 
fact that governments were made for men and not men 
for governments; and the observation is obviously true 

249 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

that instead of adapting the constitution to the people, 
he distorted the minds of the people to suit the con- 
stitution. His avowed purpose was the conquest of luxury 
and the extermination of the love of riches, and, to this 
end, he introduced the use of public tables where all 
were to eat in common of the same meat, and such 
kinds of it as were appointed by law. He divided the 
lands equally among the people and said, "How like is 
Laconia to an estate newly divided among many 
brothers?" He stopped the coinage of gold and silver 
and required that they should make use of iron money 
only; and then to a great quantity and weight of this 
he assigned but a small value. 

It was evidently not known, in that age and genera- 
tion, that the most pernicious of all legislation is that 
which tampers with the standard of value, whether it 
be in the interest of the debtor class, or for any other 
purpose. 

A great Englishman, in commenting upon the govern- 
ment of Athens, refers inferentially to the laws estab- 
lished by the Spartan law giver. He says : 

"At Athens the laws did not constantly interfere with 
the tastes of the people. The children were not taken 
from their parents by that universal step-mother, the 
state. They were not starved into thieves, or tortured 
into bullies; there was no established table at which 
every one must dine, no established style in which every 
one must converse. An Athenian might eat whatever 
he could afford to buy, and talk as long as he could find 
people to listen. The government did not tell the people 
what opinions they were to hold, or what songs they 

250 



WISE AXD BENEFICENT LAAVS 

were to sing. Freedom produced excellence. Thus phi- 
losophy took its origin. Thus were produced those 
models of poetry, of oratory, and of the arts, which 
scarcely fall short of the standard of ideal excellence. 
Nothing is more conducive to happiness than the free 
exercise of the mind, in pursuits congenial to it." 

We can all agree that the eminent French political 
philosopher^^ spoke the truth when he declared that 
the Americans had the chances of birth in their favor, 
and that their forefathers imported that equality of con- 
ditions into the country, whence the democratic republic 
very naturally took its rise. He says : ^'When I reflect 
upon the consequences of this primary circumstance, me- 
thinks I see the destiny of America embodied in the first 
Puritan who landed on those shores just as the human 
race was represented by the first man. 

"The celebrated communities of antiquity were all 
founded in the midst of hostile nations, which they were 
obliged to subjugate before they could fiourish in their 
place. * * * But North America was only inhabited 
by wandering tribes, who took no thought of the natural 
riches of the soil, and that vast country was still, prop- 
erly speaking, an empty continent, a desert land await- 
ing its inhabitants." 

To us, the grave and majestic style of this eminent 
philosophical writer, is singularly enchanting. He con- 
tinues : 

"At that time North America was discovered, as if 
it had been kept in reserve by the Deity, and had just 
risen from beneath the waters of the deluge." 

" De Tocqueville. 

251 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

After tracing the character of the American Indians 
and expressing his positive conviction that another peo- 
ple, more civilized and more advanced in all respects, 
had preceded them in the same regions, he continues : 

"How strange does it appear that nations have existed, 
and afterward so completely disappeared from the 
earth, that the remembrance of their very name h 
effaced; their languages are lost; their glory is vanished 
like a sound without an echo; but perhaps there is not 
one which has not left behind it a tomb in memory of its 
passage. The most durable monument of human labor 
is that which recalls the wretchedness and nothingness 
of man." 

One need not be deeply versed in statecraft to see 
clearly that the constitution of a state, and the due dis- 
tribution of its powers, is a matter of the most delicate 
and complicated skill; that it requires a deep knowl- 
edge of human nature and of human necessities. 

We have already noted the observation that the gov- 
ernment at Washington in its groundwork and princi- 
pal features is a restriction and perfecting of the ancient 
constitutional liberties in England. It is very doubtful, 
however, whether in all of its features our government 
is an improvement upon the English system. In Eng- 
land, there is no doubt where the real sovereignty lies. 
The actual ministers of the day must possess the confi- 
dence of the House of Commons. The real strength of 
popular government lies in the ultimate supremacy of 
that body. 

It is conceded that one of the most difficult 
252 



WISE AXD BENEFICENT LAWS 

problems of government is how to provide for the devo- 
lution of political power, and it is said that no other 
question is so generally and justly applied as the test 
of a working constitution. If the transmission worki 
smoothly, the constitution, whatever may be its other 
defects, may be at least pronounced stable. The real 
change of power occurs on a change of ministry. A 
British ministry must resign or dissolve when it is de- 
feated in the House of Commons, and if after a dissolu- 
tion it is beaten again, it must resign without alterna- 
tive. The out-going premier names his successor, who 
must be a recognized leader of his successful rivals. We 
read that recent practice goes far to establish the rule 
that a minister beaten at the hustings should resign at 
once, without waiting for a formal defeat in the House 
of Commons. 

The change of power in the United States is ac- 
complished by a very different and much more tardy 
process. The president is at once king and prime min- 
ister. His crown is rigidly fixed for four years; after 
four years he ceases to reign. No hostile vote can affect 
his power as the head of the administration. But the 
day of his political demise is known from the first day 
of his government, and almost before he begins to reign 
the political forces of the country are shaping out a new 
struggle for the succession. Further, a change of gov- 
ernment in America means a change of almost the 
entire administration; in England, the change of power 
affects comparatively few personal interests, and absorbs 
the attention of the country for a comparatively short 

253 



A CONGLOMERATE 

space of time. The commotion caused by a presidential 
election in the United States is infinitely greater than 
that caused by a general election in England. 

In this country, the president is not obliged to aban- 
don his supreme power by so trivial a circumstance as 
an adverse vote in the House of Representatives, or even 
by an overwhelming defeat at the hustings. 

It is evident that the English constitution is more 
democratic than the American, in the sense that the 
popular will can more speedily be brought to bear upon 
the government. 

The general excellence of our system of government 
and our political institutions is asserted by all patriotic 
Americans ; but it must be conceded that, at least in the 
matter of the devolution of power, the English system 
is vastly superior to ours. 

An eminent Englishman declared not long ago that 
the weak points of the American constitution are begin- 
ning to appear, and he attributes them to the "deference 
to the false diagnosis of Montesquieu which entered into 
its construction, and is now interfexing with its working 
as a republican counterpart of the constitution of Great 
Britain." We know full well that there are inherent 
defects in all governments and in all constitutions — 
that perfection in them is unattainable, as it is in the 
individuals who devise and construct them. 

We conceive that one of the greatest curses to our 
country is class legislation — laws which either directly 
or indirectly are meant to favor particular classes of 
the community. The doctrine of protection which was 

254 



WISE AXD BENEFICENT LAWS 

not recognized or contemplated by the franiers of the 
constitution, but had its insidious birth long after the 
adoption of that sacred instrument, is a striking exam- 
ple. There is something in a name. The word "pro- 
tection," at once gentle and emollient, was selected to 
cover this nefarious scheme. Artifices of this kind have 
long been practiced. The Athenians frequently quali- 
fied the harshness of things by giving them softer and 
politer names — for example, they called harlots mis- 
tresses ; and it was Solon, we believe, who first distin- 
guished the canceling of debts by the name of a dis- 
charge. 

This policy of protection has resulted in the accumu- 
lation of large fortunes in the hands of a few individ- 
uals and, at the same time, in the partial impoverish- 
ment of the masses of the people. The doctrine has at 
last become so odious to a vast majority of the American 
people that, in some quarters, it has become a subject of 
serious consideration whether the word itself, "protect- 
ion," should not be ruthlessly stricken from all Ameri- 
can lexicons. It would almost seem as if the authors 
and promoters of this infamous doctrine had adopted 
the dreadful maxim of Michiavelli, that in great affairs 
men are not to be wicked by halves. 

Protection has not only enabled a few individuals to 
suddenly acquire large fortunes, at the expense of their 
neighbors, but it has been the means of introducing 
baleful luxury — a style of living even beyond the means 
of those who adopt it, and spreading through all classes. 
It is a fact, confirmed by the observation of every one, 
that men who have accumulated wealth slowly, by 

255 



A CONGLOMERATE 

labor of mind or body, do not spend it extravagantly. 
We are prone to disregard the lessons of history. The 
luxury which corrupted and destroyed the republic of 
Eome was the result of large fortunes suddenly acquired 
by the plunder of provinces, the conquest of unjust wars. 

A question now under consideration by the American 
people is an amendment to the constitution, providing 
for the election of United States senators by the people, 
instead of by the legislatures of the respective states. 
We have grave doubts as to the propriety and wisdom of 
the proposed amendment, notwithstanding the popular 
clamor for it is largely from the political party to which 
we belong. 

To the private citizen, who neither holds nor seeks 
to hold any public office and who has no "ax to grind," 
it w^ould seem that two dangers confront this country; 
one is a vast consolidated power at Washington, con- 
trolling the internal affairs of states, assuming doubtful 
powers under the constitution, and even others on the 
ground of inherent rights of sovereignty; the other, is 
a growing tendency to convert our Federal Eepublic into 
a pure Democracy. Of such Democracies we have al- 
ready noted the historical fact "that they have ever been 
spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been 
incompatible with personal security, or the rights of 
property; and have, in general, been as short in their 
lives, as they have been violent in their deaths.'' The 
opinion of Montesquieu that such a government is 
practicable only in a small country, with a limited 

256 



WISE AND BENEFICENT LAWS 

population, is confirmed by the reason and observation 
of every reflecting man of ordinary intelligence. 

European statesmen declare that in the United States 
constitutional progress is hampered by the necessity of 
having every amendment ratified by the separate vote 
of three-fourths of the states. The whole world lias 
been electrified by the marvelous constructive capacity 
and prescience, exhibited by the fathers of the republic. 
It was said of some of them that they possessed in the 
highest degree the rare faculty of being able to see conse- 
quents yet dormant in their principals. Is it not a 
reasonable presumption that the framers of the constitu- 
tion made amendments difficult, in anticipation of efforts 
that might possibly be made, by visionary sophists or 
interested agitators, to tear down the very pillars upon 
which the edifice rests? If the proposed amendment be 
adopted it will amount to a fundamental change in the 
form and character of our government — in fact, to revo- 
lution; and will be a gigantic stride in the direction of 
the obliteration of state lines ending, perhaps, in a 
centralized despotism at Washington. 

The autonomy and indestructibility of the states were 
insisted upon as conditions precedent to the adoption 
and ratification of the constitution — and, without the 
assurance that these would be preserved, the constitution 
would have failed. They were informed that "the pro- 
posed constitution, so far from implying an abolition of 
the state governments, makes them constituent parts of 
the national sovereignty, by allowing them — direct repre- 
sentation in the senate, and leaves in their possession 

257 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

certain exclusive and very important portions of sover- 
eign power." 

The present method of electing senators has answered 
admirably the purposes of government and society. Why 
pull down the edifice, why destroy this ancient land- 
mark, with the view of experimenting with a system 
which is wholly untried and upon which great construc- 
tive statesmen have placed the seal of their reprobation? 
We know how easy it is to pull down and destroy. A 
mob can do this. It has been well and truly said that 
the shallowest understanding, the rudest hand, is more 
than equal to that task. 

"Eage and frenzy will pull down more in half an 
hour, than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build 
up in a hundred years." 

We are reminded of the solemn admonition of Burke 
upon a like occasion: "No man should approach to 
look into the defects or corruptions of the state but with 
due caution; that he should never dream of beginning 
its reformation by its subversion; that he should ap- 
proach the faults of the state as to the wounds of a 
father, with pious awe and trembling solicitude. * * * 
We are taught to look with horror on those children 
of their country, who are prompt rashly to hack that 
aged parent in pieces, and put him into the kettle of 
magicians, in hopes that by their poisoned weeds, and 
wild incantations, they may regenerate the paternal 
constitution, and renovate their father's life." 

We know that professional politicians, seeking political 
preferment and fond of distinguishing themselves, can- 
not always be relied upon to resist violent innovation. 

258 



WISE AND BENEFICENT LAWS 

If they accomplish their purpose what do they care 
whether it be by the "thunderbolt of despotism, or by 
the earthquake of popular commotion?" 

In this the year of our Lord 1912, occurs the quad- 
rennial honey-moon of the politician's fondness for the 
dear people. During this delightful period, his love and 
tenderness are not excelled by those of the bride-groom 
who takes to his bosom his young and blushing bride. 
With many, his blandishments and cajoleries are effect- 
ive. With what unction and dramatic effect will he 
declare upon the hustings : "It should be your province 
to determine who shall be United States Senator; he 
should be elected hy you, the people of this country. 

We have in mind one of the most illustrious statesmen 
of ancient or modern times — a man of large observation 
and profound erudition. Note his words of wisdom : 

"A dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the 
specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people, than 
under the forbidding appearance of zeal for the firmness 
and efficiency of government. * « * Of those men 
who have overturned the liberties of republics, the great- 
est number have begun their career, by paying an 
obsequious court to the people ; commencing demagogues, 
and ending tyrants." 

We all know how difficult it is to overcome what is 
known abroad as a peculiar American superstition — that 
the correctness of a belief is decided by the number of 
people who can be induced to adopt it — in short, that 
the truth is a matter of majorities, derived by a simple 
arithmetical calculation. 

AYill any one seriously contend that several hundred 
259 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

thousand voters in the State of Indiana are more capable 
than the one hundred and fifty members of the General 
Assembly to select a proper person to discharge the high 
and important duties of a United States Senator? To 
give a concrete illustration: Suppose a senatorial 
election should be held tomorrow — a free for all contest 
if you please, who and where is the individual that 
would receive more votes for that great office than the 
redoubtable Lew Shank, now mayor of Indianapolis? 
Can you conceive of a General Assembly, either Demo- 
cratic or Eepublican, that would elect him? 

We are merely asking questions — a mode much used 
in former times, and still permissible, of stating the most 
decided opinions. 

A vast majority of the American people believe that 
no honest employment is disgraceful; but, it is no less 
true, that each individual has his own peculiar adapta- 
tion — in other words, it is every man to his trade. The 
lawyer, who would presume to instruct a farmer of long 
experience, in the work and management of his farm, 
would only make himself ridiculous ; and no less so, was 
the silly rhetorician who went all the way to Carthage 
to instruct Hannibal in the art of war. We all respect 
the farmer and his occupation, and well we may, for he 
is indispensable to our existence ; but it would be asking 
too much to demand that he should also be an adept in 
state-craft and diplomacy. This principle is corroborat- 
ed, if indeed it needs corroboration, by the book of 
Ecclesiasticus, presumably written by Solomon. We 
quote from chapter 28, verses 24 and 25 : "The wisdom 
of a learned man cometh by opportunity of leisure : and 

260 



WISE AND BENEFICENT LAWS 

he that hath little business shall become wise. How can 
he get wisdom that holdeth the plow, and that glorieth 
in the goad; that driveth oxen; and is occupied in 
their labor; and w^hose talk is of bullocks?" Again, 
verse 33 : "They shall not be sought for in public counsel, 
nor sit in the congregation : they shall not sit on the 
judge's seat, nor understand the sentence of judgment; 
they cannot declare justice and judgment and they 
shall not be found where parables are spoken." 

In some particulars other governments are in advance 
of our owm. Andrew D. White, the eminent publicist, 
who for many years represented this country as ambas- 
sador at the courts of Europe, had ample opportunities 
for observation and comparison. He declares that as a 
result of such observance and reflection during a long 
life which touched public men and measures in wide 
variety, he would desire for our country three things 
above all others, to supplement our existing American 
civilization: from Great Britian her administration of 
criminal justice; from Germany her theatre; and from 
any European country save Russia, Spain and Turkey, 
its government of cities : He says that in Germany, the 
theater and its surroundings are, in the main, free from 
the abuses and miseries of the stage in English-speaking 
lands. 

No fact is more conclusively established by history 
than that the most common and durable source of con- 
troversy and contention has been the unequal distribu- 
tion of property. "Those who hold and those who are 

261 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

without property have ever formed distinct interests in 
society. Those who are creditors and those who are 
debtors fall under a like discrimination." 

One of the most difficult problems that confronts our 
country is the ever recurring controversy between capital 
and labor. 

The same conditions exist in other countries. Em- 
peror William expresses his feelings on the subject with 
much emphasis. He declared to an eminent American 
not so very long ago: "You in America may do what 
you please, but I will not suffer capitalists in Germany 
to suck the life out of the workingmen and then fling 
them like squeezed lemon-skins into the gutter." No 
question can possibly arise, the solution of which, re- 
quires greater wisdom and forbearance. It is the plain, 
unvarnished truth that the fault is not all on either side. 
Capital justly complains of the destruction of property; 
labor pleads in mitigation, if not in justification, the 
relentless demands and exactions of capital. We believe 
that an absolutely perfect solution of this troublesome 
problem awaits, either the recognition and practical 
application by both parties of the Golden Eule, or the 
perfectibility of man. 

There was a time in our early colonial history wdien 
the inhabitants of America were contemptously regarded 
by Europeans. It is an historical fact, that even men 
admired as profound philosophers did, in direct terms, 
attribute to the inhabitants of Europe a physical and 
mental superiority; and did gravely assert that all 
animals, and with them the human species, degenerated 

262 



PEACE AND WAR— GROTIUS 

in America — that even dogs ceased to bark after liaving 
breathed awhile in our atmosphere. ^^ It is hardly 
necessary to say that this theory has long since been 
abandoned. The prowess and physical endurance of 
Americans have been illustrated on many battle fields. 
On the score of mental inferiority it is sufficient to recite 
a single fact — that after the treaty of Ghent the British 
House of Lords solemnly declared that the negotiations 
for peace bore the stamp of American superiority. 

PEACE AND WAR — GROTIUS — PEACE CONFERENCE AT THE 
HAGUE — LAYING A WREATH OF SILVER AND GOLD UPON 
THE TOMB OF GROTIUS BY THE AMERICAN DELEGATION. 

More than a century ago a great statesman declared 
that "To judge from the history of mankind, we shall 
be compelled to conclude, that the fiery and destructive 
passions of war reign in the human breast with much 
more powerful sway, than the mild and beneficent senti- 
ments of peace; and that to model our political systems 
upon speculations of lasting tranquillity, would be to 
calculate on the weaker springs of the human character." 

Peace conferences at The Hague, in which the great 
countries of the world have participated, the pending 
Peace treaties, and other circumstances, would, perhaps, 
warrant a modification of this positive view. 

The consideration of the subject of Peace and 
War naturally suggests the name of one of the 
most famous men of the seventeenth century — Hugo 
Grotius. He was born at Delft April 10, 1583, and died 
at Rostock August 28, 1645. Shortly after he attained 

^«The Federalist. 

263 



A CONGLOMERATE 

his majority he became an active participant in the 
disputes between the Remonstrants and their opponents 
and, in 1613, when these controversies were at their 
height in Holland, he was sentenced to imprisonment 
for life. His escape from imprisonment was marvelous. 
His wife managed to have him carried out of the castle 
in a chest used for the conveyance of books and linen, 
while she remained in prison in his stead. Her devotion 
was applauded and she was finally set at liberty. 

Grotius was a man of varied interests and accomplish- 
ments. To the talents of a most able statesman, he 
united deep and extensive learning. He was a profound 
and enlightened theologian, a distinguished scholar, an 
acute philosopher, a judicious historian and a splendid 
jurist. So great and varied was his learning that he 
was characterized as a "monster of erudition." 

His greatest work was his treatise on Peace and War 
which was published at Paris in 1625. It was soon 
generally received as authority by professors of the 
Continental Universities, having been translated into 
all the languages of Europe. He was everywhere treated 
with profound respect as the founder of the modern law 
of nations which is distinguished from what formerly 
bore that name by its more continual reference to that of 
nature. Hallam declares that no one had before gone 
to the foundations of international law so as to raise a 
complete and consistent superstructure. The motive 
assigned for this great undertaking is the noblest. "I 
saw," he says, "in the whole Christian world a license of 
fighting, at which even barbarians might blush; wars 
begun on trifling pretexts, or none at all, and carried 

264 



PEACE AND WAE— GEOTIUS 

on without reverence for any divine or human law, as 
if that one declaration of war let loose every crime. 

Our ahle and distinguished publicist Andrew D. White, 
who was the President of the American delegation to the 
Peace Conference at The Hague in 1899, declared that 
"More than ever it is apparent to me that of all books 
ever written — not claiming divine inspiration — the 
great work of Grotius on 'War and Peace' has been of 
most benefit to mankind. Our work here (at The 
Hague Peace Conference) at the end of the nineteenth 
century, is the direct result of his, at the beginning of 
the seventeenth." Mr. White declared that Grotius had 
long been to him almost an object of idolatry, and his 
main works a subject of earnest study — that there were 
few men in history whom he so deeply venerated. 

It was indeed a most felicitous thought of Mr. White 
which impelled him on the 6th day of June, 1899, to 
write a private letter to the Secretary of State suggest- 
ing that the American delegation to The Hague confer- 
ence be authorized to lay a wreath of silver and gold 
upon the tomb of Grotius at Delft, "not only as a 
tribute to the man who set in motion the ideas which, 
nearly three hundred years later, have led to the assem- 
bling of this conference, but as an indication of our grati- 
tude to the Netherlands Government for its hospitality 
and the admirable provision it has made for our work 
here, and also as a sign of good will towards the older 
governments of the world on the occasion of their first 
meeting with delegates from the new world, in a con- 
ference treating of matters most important to all na- 
tions." 

265 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

On the 19th of June Mr. White received a hearty- 
telegram from the Secretary of State authorizing him 
to order the wreath of silver and gold to be placed on the 
tomb of Grotius. He at once telegraphed and wrote to 
Berlin giving full instructions on the subject, having 
determined, as he said, that the tribute should be worthy 
of our country, of its object, and of the occasion. After 
a conference it was decided that the Grotius celebration 
should be had on July 4th at Delft — that the ceremony 
should occur in the great church at eleven o'clock, with 
sundry speeches, and that at half past twelve the Ameri- 
can delegation should give a luncheon to all the invited 
guests in the town hall opposite. On June 22 the 
American delegation met and chose Mr. White for their 
orator at the approaching Grotius festival. On July 2 
Major Allen, military attache of the American embassy 
at Berlin arrived bringing the Grotius wreath. It was 
most satisfactory. It is thus described by Mr. White: 
"The wreath is very large, being made up, on one side, 
of a laurel branch with leaves of frosted silver and 
berries of gold, and, on the other, of an oak branch with 
silver leaves and gold acorn, both boughs being tied 
together at the bottom by a large knot of ribbon in silver 
gilded, bearing the arms of the Netherlands and the 
United States on enameled shields, and an inscription 
as follows: 

"To the Memory of Hugo Grotius; 

In Reverence and Gratitude, 

From the United States of America; 

On the Occasion of the International Peace 

Conference of The Hague, 

July 4, 1899." 

266 



PEACE AND WAE— GROTIUS 

"It is a superb piece of work and its ebony cast, with 
silver clasps, and bearing a silver shield with suitable 
inscription, is also perfect; the whole thing attracts 
most favorable attention." 

At the appointed time, July 4th the American dele- 
gation invited their colleagues to celebrate our national 
anniversary at the tomb of Grotius, first in the great 
church, and afterw^ard in the town hall at Delft. The 
duty of laying the wreath upon the tomb and making the 
address with reference to it, was intrusted to Mr. White, 
the president of the American delegation. Speeches 
were also made by President Low of Columbia Universi- 
ty, De Beaufort the minister of foreign affairs of the 
Netherlands, Mr. Asser one of their leading jurists, by 
the burgomaster of Delft, and by Baron de Bildt chair- 
man of the Swedish delegation and minister at Rome. 
The latter read a telegram from the King of Sweden 
referring to Grotius's relations to the Swedish diplomatic 
service. A very large audience was present, embracing 
the ambassadors and principal members of the confer- 
ence, the Netherlands ministers of state, professors of 
the various universities of the Netherlands, and a large 
body of the other invited guests. The music of the 
chimes, of the organ, and of the royal choir of one 
hundred voices, is said to have been most impressive. 

This beautiful and well deserved tribute to Grotius, 
paid nearly three hundred years after he had passed 
awa}^, indicates very clearly that truly great men are not 
soon forgotten. 



267 



A CONGLOMEEATE 
RELIGION AND POLITICS. 

The subjects of the "Preacher in Politics" and 
"Church and State" seem just now to be uppermost 
in the public mind. 

We have a profound respect for the minister of the 
Gospel and the great and holy cause which he is pre- 
sumed to represent; but have never been especially 
infatuated either with political theologians or theological 
politicians. 

Politics and the pulpit are absolutely incompatible. 

Everyone has, or thinks he has, an understanding 
with God as to his own particular case; but it will not 
be denied that, in the interest of the cause of religion, 
the harmony and growth of the church are of paramount 
importance. If the leader of his flock engages actively 
in partisan politics, it works an injury to his church 
and the cause of religion in two ways ; it embitters those 
of his membership who do not agree with him, and 
repels many outsiders from entering the church who 
would otherwise do so. We are convinced that there 
are myriads of people in the last named class. 

The life and occupation of the minister are not such 
as would naturally fit him for solving abstruse problems 
in Legislation and Government, and being unacquainted 
with the world and inexperienced in all its affairs, he has 
nothing of politics but the passions they excite, which 
are usually characterized by intensity, and oftentimes 
by acrimony. 

From the very nature of the calling of the minister, 
he is subjected to some disadvantages which are not 

2G8 



EELIGION AND POLITICS 

encountered in other professions. He has not the bene- 
fit of the wholesome and liberalizing effect which 
invariably results from the attrition of mind with mind. 
"What he says goes." Occasionallyj we find one who 
becomes narrow, intolerant, and presumptuous, who can 
exercise no patience with those who differ with him in 
opinion, being thoroughly saturated with the doctrine 
that orthodoxy is my doxy, and heterodoxy is your doxy. 
It was said that Dr. 0. an eminent clerg}'man, had an 
extraordinary way of asserting himself. After his death 
a legend arose that on his arrival in the New Jerusalem, 
being presented to St. Paul he said : "Sir, I have derived 
both pleasure and profit from your writings, and have 
commended them to my congregation." 

The minister in discharging the duties of his office — 
giving consolation to the sick and dying, and those in 
bereavement and distress, is indeed performing an holy 
office; but these duties do not invest him with the 
ability to solve the varied and intricate problems of 
government, and are alike remote from politics, law, 
statecraft and diplomacy. 

Some years ago, an incident occurred which illustrates 
the agility with which a minister may pass from the 
domain of the church and religion to that of partizan 
politics. In opening with prayer the National Conven- 
tion of one of the great political parties in this country, 
he said: 

"Grant, Lord, that the ticket here to be nominated 
may command a majority of the suffrages of the Ameri- 
can people." 

The dear brother did not yet know who would be 
269 



A CONGLOMERATE 

nominated, nor what principles would be enunciated in 
the platform. Waiving the question of irreverence and 
impropriety, he certainly exhibited great liberality, and 
a most accommodating spirit. 

It is the men who are most estranged by the political 
activities of the minister. Women take politics less 
seriously, and the influence of religion over their minds 
is generally supreme. The spiritual necessities of the 
two sexes seem to be somewhat at variance. 

"Fraulein Von Klattenberg looked upon her Savior 
as a lover to whom one yields one's self without reserve, 
concentrating all joy and hope on him alone, and without 
doubt or hesitation confiding to him the destiny of life. 
Lavater, on the other hand, treated his Savior as a friend, 
to be imitated lovingly and without envy, whose merits 
he recognized and valued highly and whom from that 
very reason, he strove to copy and even to equal." 

The clergyman may in some sense be regarded as the 
terrestrial agent or representative of the Savior, and it 
will require very little perspicacity, indeed, to see the 
inevitable effect of his "getting out in the district," or 
from his own pulpit, denouncing with intense earnest- 
ness and sometimes with bitterness, the political senti- 
ments and beliefs of members of his own congregation, 
and of those on the outside who under other circum- 
stances would become members. 

The subject under consideration involves the same old 
question of the separation of church and state. "When 
a religion founds its empire upon the desire of im- 
mortality, which lives in every human heart," says 
De Tocqueville, "it may aspire to universal dominion; 

270 



RELIGION AXD POLITICS 

but when it connects itself with a government, it must 
necessarily adopt maixims which are only applicable to 
certain nations. * * * As long as a religion rests 
upon those sentiments which are the consolation of all 
affliction it may attract the affections of mankind. But 
if it be mixed up with the bitter passions of the world, 
it may be constrained to defend allies whom its interests, 
and not the principle of love, have given to it. * * * 
The church cannot share the temporal power of the state, 
without being the object of a portion of that animosity 
which the latter excites. * * * When religion clings 
to the interest of the world it becomes almost as fragile 
as the powers of the earth. It is the only one of them 
all which can hope for immortality; but if it be con- 
nected with their ephemeral authority, it shares their 
fortunes, and may fall with those transient passions 
which support them for a day. * * * The unbelievers 
of Europe attack the Christians as their political op- 
ponents rather than as their religious adversaries; they 
hate the Christian religion as the opinion of a party, 
much more than as an error of belief; and they reject 
the clergy less because they are the representatives of 
the Divinity than because they are the allies of au- 
thority." 

Edmund Burke, renowned for the amplitude of his 
understanding, and for his profound knowledge of the 
science of government and of governmental institutions, 
expressed decided opinions upon this subject. One can- 
not fail to be greatly impressed by what he says : 

''No sound ought to be heard in the church but the 
healing voice of Christian charity. The cause of civil 

271 



A CONGLOMERATE 

liberty and civil government gains as little as that of 
religion by this confusion of duties. Those who quit 
their proper characters to assume what does not belong 
to them, are, for the greater part, ignorant both of the 
character they leave, and the character they assume. 
* * * Surely the church is a place where one day's 
truce ought to be allowed to the dissensions and the 
animosities of mankind." 

WILLIAM M. EVARTS. 

William Maxwell Evarts was a great lawyer, orator, 
statesman and diplomatist, developed during the Civil 
War period. As war forms the soldier, so the art of 
oratory flourishes to most advantage in times of war, 
turbulence and civil commotion. One essential requisite 
for the exhibition of great oratorical power is that the 
subject of the oration must be of adequate importance. 
Many subjects of this kind arose during and for a 
number of years immediately succeeding our Civil War. 
■^^If there was a government in the world free from 
commotions and disturbances," says Tacitus, "the pro- 
fession of oratory would there be as useless as that of 
medicine to the sound, and as the physician would have 
little practice or profit among the healthy and strong, 
so neither would the orator have much business where 
obedience and good manners universally prevail." 

The great triumvirate, Calhoun, Clay and Webster 
(I name them alphabetically) attained eminence during 
the thirty years intervening between 1820 and 1850. It 
is true that our country was engaged in actual war only 

272 



WILLIAM M. EVAETS 

during a small portion of this period, but the aggressive 
agitation of the abolitionists on account of their real 
or pretended love and sympathy for the Southern negro 
continued incessantly during those three decades, thus 
keeping the country in a condition of constant turmoil, 
excitement and commotion. 

To what extent their hatred of the Southern white 
man contributed to this prolonged controversy, has 
ceased to be an important inquiry. ^^ If it so contribut- 
ed, it was not the first time in the history of the world 
that the reformer mixed his love of man with the hate 
of men. This question arose from time to time in 
protean shapes; and it was largely the discussion of 
this subject, and the important legal and constitutional 
questions growing out of it, that developed those three 
great statesmen and orators. 

Evarts was born in Boston, February 6th, 1818, edu- 
cated at Yale where he graduated in 1837. Three 
years later he was admitted to the New York bar, where 
for nearly half a century he held a distinguished place. 
His knowledge of the principles of law and of constitu- 
tional government, led to his selection as counsel for 
President Johnson at the impeachment trial in 1868. 
Differing in temperament and in manner from Judge 

-° It is one of the marvels of the age in which we live, 
that the bitter and vindictive agitators of New England 
should have been so entirely oblivious of the fact, that their 
ancestors were responsible for bringing slavery to this 
continent, and that the pockets of some of them became 
plethoric with gold, derived from the unholy slave trade. 
Little did they anticipate that some of their descendants, 
inheritors of this filthy lucre, would in time become such 
ardent philanthropists. 

273 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

Curtis, his associate counsel in this case, it was said, 
"that the two seemed perfectly adapted for professional 
co-operation, and united they constiuted an array of 
counsel as strong as could be found at the English- 
speaking bar." 

After the close of the impeachment trial he served 
as Attorney General, from 1868 to 1869, in President 
Johnson's cabinet. 

In 1871, he and two other eminent lawyers were 
appointed by President Grant to defend the interests of 
citizens of the United States, before the tribunal of 
arbitrators who met at Geneva to settle the Alabama 
claims. 

In 1877 he represented the Eepublican party before 
the Electoral Commission. He served four years as 
Secretary of State in Hayes' Cabinet (1877-1878). He 
was United States Senator from the State of New York 
for six years (1885-1891). I omitted to mention that 
he was the senior counsel for Mr. Beecher in the cele- 
brated Tilton suit. 

In his ability to discuss great questions of constitu- 
tional and international law, he was the peer of any of 
the statesmen and diplomatists of Europe. Cobden said 
of him: "He is a sedate, quiet, able man, thoroughly 
master of his business, and not disposed to go much 
beyond it. He is quite a match for our lawyers on 
questions that arise." 

Evarts writes to Bigelow our ambassador at Paris: 
"I shall, of course, come to Paris and depend much 
upon you to introduce me to its wonders and protect 
me from its perils." 

274 



WILLIAM M. EVARTS 

He was considered by eminent men the foremost advo- 
cate in the world, whether in this country or Europe. 
Many of his speeches and orations have been preserved, 
but, as is well known, the highest efforts of advocacy 
at the bar have no adequate memorial. Tacitus says of 
the eloquent Haterius, "Whilst the plodding industry 
of scribblers goes down to posterity, the sweet voice 
and fluent eloquence of Haterius died with himself." 

As an orator he was celebrated for the length of his 
sentences, but they were free from involution and ob- 
security, and seldom contain a superfluous or misplaced 
word. Rufus Choate was also famous for long sentences. 
So long, indeed, that some of them have been described 
as sentences for life. Choate's eulogy on Webster, one 
of the finest ever pronounced on any man, contains one 
sentence which stretches over more than four pages; 
and it has been said that some of the sentences of the 
abstruse Kant measure two feet, eight by six inches. I 
think a close examination will disclose the fact that the 
sentences of Evarts are characterized by brevity or 
copiousness — according to the subject under considera- 
tion. 

Mr. Evarts was not a politician in the ordinary 
signification of that word, but his consummate ability 
and admirable fitness for that great office, caused his 
name to be frequently mentioned in connection with 
the Presidency. 

Contemporary statesmen observed and appreciated his 
greatness as a lawyer, orator, statesman and diplomatist, 
as well as his noble and charming personal characteris- 
tics. 

275 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

Mr. Blaine says, referring to Evarts: "He is an 
orator — affluent in diction, graceful in manner, with 
all the rare and rich gifts which attract or enchain an 
audience/^ I quote the tribute of Senator Hoar of 
Massachusetts : 

"William M. Evarts, Secretary of State under Hays, 
was my near kinsman and intimate friend." * * * 
He became the foremost advocate in the world, whether 
in this country or Europe. * * * He was a man of 
unfailing equanimity and good nature, never thrown oS 
his balance by any exigency in diplomacy, in political 
affairs, or in the trial of causes. * * * He was always 
a delightful orator. He rose sometimes to a very lofty 
eloquence, as witness especially his argument in defense 
of President Johnson. * * * jj^ ^j^g ]^gj^ fg^^ years 
of his service in the senate, he had a very serious afflic- 
tion of the eyes. His physician in Paris told him there 
was not the slightest hope. He thought that the dark- 
ness would certainly, though gradually, shut down upon 
him. He received this sentence with composure. He 
went to Dresden to see Raphael's famous Virgin before 
the night set in.'' 

BLAISE PASCAL. 

We have had occasion more than once to quote from 
Pascal. He is certainly one of the most striking char- 
acters known in history. 

We know how difficult it is to convey to the reader 
precisely the thought of the writer. The historian, 

276 



BLAISE PASCAL 

Bancroft, fully appreciated this fact when he asserted 
that ''There is no end to the difficulty in choosing lan- 
guage which will awaken in the mind of the reader the 
very same thought that was in the mind of the writer." 
The weighty and vigorous thoughts of Pascal are ex- 
pressed with a force and perspicuity that enable the 
most ordinary mind to grasp them. It was said that 
"the vividness and distinction of his phrase, his singular 
faculty of inserting without any loss of dignity in the 
gravest and most impassioned meditation what may 
almost be called quips of thought and diction, the in- 
tense earnestness of meaning, weighting but not con- 
fusing the style, all appear in his writings." 

Hallam declares that among those who sustained 
the truth of Christianity by argument, rather than by 
authority, the first place, both in order of time and of 
excellence, is due to Pascal. It seems that he had not 
read very largely, which gave an ampler sweep to his 
genius. 

This distinguished philosopher and scholar was born 
in Auvergne, France, June 19th, 1623. He died at the 
early age of thirty-nine, in Paris, in the year 1G62. 

His precocity was marvelous. In his sixteenth year 
he produced a treatise on conic sections, which extorted 
the aJmost incredulous admiration of Descartes. 

We have read that his "Provincial Letters" had great 
contemporary popularity and we know tliat they have 
an enduring fame. In these letters he addresses himself 
to the casuistry of the Jesuits ; and "in a stream of hu- 
morous irony which has seldom been surpassed, he holds 

277 



A CONGLOMERATE 

up to ridicule their imputed laxity of principle on the 
obligation of restitution, on simony, on probable opin- 
ions, on equivocation and mental reservation." 

It is "Pascal's Pensees,'' however, by which we have 
been most profoundly impressed. The "Thoughts" of 
Pascal have been ranked as a monument of his genius. 
"They burn with an intense light; condensed in ex- 
pression, sublime, energetic, rapid, they hurry away the 
reader till he is scarcely able or willing to distinguish 
the sophisms from the truth they contain." The 
"Thoughts" did not appear until eight years after 
Pascal's death. The subjects dealt with concern more 
or less all the great problems of thought on what has 
been called the theological side of metaphysics — "the 
sufficiency of reason, the trustworthiness of experience, 
the admissibility of revelation, free will, foreknowledge 
and the rest." They have been pronounced a triumph 
of literary art of which no familiarity dims the splendor, 
and which no lapse of time can ever impair. They have 
extorted the admiration even of his unbelieving, and 
therefore unsympathetic critics. "To sum up, the 
Pensees are excursions into the great unknown, made 
with a full acknowledgement of the greatness of that 
unknown. Erom the point of view that belief and 
knowledge based on experience or reasoning, are separate 
domains with an unexplored sea between and around 
them, Pascal is perfectly comprehensible, and he need 
not be taken as a deserter from one region or the other." 

From the notes of our reading we here reproduce a 
number of his thoughts : 

The two secret instincts of man. He seehs repose 
278 



BLAISE PASCAL 

tliroiigh agitation : Man has a secret instinct that leads 
him to seek diversion and employment from without; 
which springs from the sense of his continual misery. 
And he has another secret instinct, remaining from the 
greatness of his original nature, which teaches him that 
happiness can only exist in repose. And from these two 
contrary instincts there arises in him an obscure pro- 
pensity, concealed in his soul, which prompts him to seek 
repose through agitation, and even to fancy that the con- 
tentment he does not enjoy will be found, if by strug- 
gling yet a little longer he can open a door to rest. 

An infinite sphere, of which the center is everywhere, 
the circumference nowhere: All this visible world is but 
an imperceptible point in the ample bosom of nature. 
No idea approaches it. In vain we extend our concep- 
tions beyond imaginable spaces; we bring forth but 
atoms, in comparison with the reality of things. It is 
an infinite sphere, of which the center is everywhere, 
the circumference nowhere. In fine, it is the greatest 
discernible character of the omnipotence of God, that 
our imagination loses itself in this thought. 

Principles are perceived, propositions are deduced: 
We know the truth, not only by reasoning, but by feel- 
ing, and by a vivid and luminous power of direct com- 
prehension ; and it is by this last quality that we discern 
first principles. It is vain for reasoning, which has no 
share in discovering these principles, to attempt sub- 
verting them. * * * The knowledge of first prin- 
ciples, as the ideas of space, time, motion, number, mat- 
ter, is as unequivocally certain as any that reasoning im- 
parts. * * * Principles are perceived, propositions 

279 



A CONGLOMERATE 

are deduced; each part of the process is certain, though 
in different modes. 

The proofs of our religion are not of that kind that 
we can say they are geometrically convincing. 

As they look upon truth through the medium of cheer- 
ful or gloomy feelings, truth herself varies like a land- 
scape, as seen in a bright sunshine or on a cloudy day. 

Eeason, that vaunted guide of life, nowhere exists as 
a pure and colorless light, but is perpetually tinctured 
by the medium through which it passes; it flows in 
upon us through painted windows. 

We cannot but feel that the spectacle of so ignorant a 
being refusing to believe a proposition merely because it 
is above his comprehension, is of all paradoxes the most 
paradoxical, and of all absurdities the most ludicrous. 

Dotiht distinguished from scepticism: Skepticism is 
the adversary, not only of such or such a school, but of 
all schools of philosophy. We must not confound skep- 
ticism with doubt. Doubt has its legitimate use, 
its wisdom, its utility. It serves philosophy in its v/ay, 
for it warns her of her aberrations, and reminds reason 
of its imperfections and limits. * * * But as soon as 
it is applied to the faculty of knowing, if it contests 
with reason her power and her rights, from that moment 
it is no longer doubt but skepticism. Doubt does not 
flee truth; it seeks it, and it is the better to attain it 
that it watches over and holds in check the often rash 
procedures of reason. Skepticism does not seek truth, 
for it knows, or thinks it knows, that there is none and 
can be none for man. Doubt is to philosophy an incon- 

280 



BLAISE PASCAL 

venient, often importunate, always "Qscful friend ; skepti- 
cism is to it a mortal enemy. 

AYe know truth not only through the reason, but 
through the heart; it is from the latter source that we 
know its first principles, and it is useless for reasoning, 
which has no share in them, to attempt to oppose them. 
* * * The heart feels that there are three dimensions 
in space, and that numbers are infinite; reason after- 
Av^ard demonstrates that there are no two squares, one 
of which is double the other. Principles are felt, propo- 
sitions concluded; both with certainty, though by differ- 
ent ways. 

Religion and philosophy are two equally necessary 
powers, which, thank God, can never destroy each other, 
but which may be easily united for the peace of the 
world and the service of the human race. 

It is unquestionable that there is no good in this life 
but the hope of another life. 

The Christian faith goes mainly to the establishment 
of these two things: the corruption of nature, and the 
redemption of Jesus Christ. 

Our whole dignity consists in thought. Our elevation 
must be derived from this, not from space and dura- 
tion, which we cannot fill. Let us endeavor, then, to 
think well : this is the principle of ethics. 

Two things instruct man in regard to his whole na- 
ture — instinct and experience. 

It is doubtless an evil to be full of defects; but it is 
a still greater evil to be full of them and to be unwilling 

281 



A CONGLOMERATE 

to acknowledge them, since this is adding to them the 
further evil of voluntary illusion. 

To speak the truth is useful to him to whom it is 
spoken, but disadvantageous to those who speak it, be- 
cause they make themselves hated. 

The tone of voice imposes on the wisest and alters the 
effect of a discourse or a poem. 

One never loves the person but only the qualities. 

The power of a man's virtue should not be measured 
by his special efforts, but by his ordinary doing. 

The example of Alexander's chastity has not made so 
many continent as that of his drunkenness has made in- 
temperate. 

Continued eloquence wearies. 

I lay it down as a fact that, if all men knew what 
others say of them, there would not be four friends in 
the world. 

There are those who speak well, and do not write well. 
It is because the place, the audience, warms them, and 
elicits from their mind more than they find in it without 
this warmth. 

Is it through reason that you love? It is the heart 
that feels God and not the reason. This is faith: God 
is sensible to the heart, not to the reason. 

We know the truth, not only by the reason, but also 
by the heart; it is by the heart that we know first 
principles, and it is in vain that reasoning, which has no 
part in it, tries to combat them. 

Hence it is that those to whom God has given re- 
ligion by sentiment of heart are very happy and very 
legitimately persuaded. But to those who have it not 

282 



ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN 

we can give it only by reasoning, until God gives it to 
them by sentiment of heart, without which faith is but 
human, and useless for salvation. 



AUTOBIOGRAPHIES — REMINISCENCES OF EMINENT PUBLIC 

MEN — ESTIMATES OF THEIR CHARACTER AND 

ABILITY BY THEIR CONTEMPORARIES. 

In our reading we confess to a very strong predilec- 
tion in favor of biography. The ancient biographer 
was content merely to narrate the leading incidents of 
a man's life; modern biography is portraiture, and fre- 
quently abounds in eulogy or censure, and disquisition 
more or less profound. Again, biography is defined to 
be the artistic representation in continuous narrative 
of the life and character of a particular individual. The 
importance of some minuteness of detail in biographical 
writing, as revealing the personality of the subject of 
the sketch, is admirably put by an ancient biographer: 
"Nor is it always by the most distinguished achievement 
that man's virtues or vices may be best discerned; but 
very often an action of small note, a short saying, or a 
jest, shall distinguish a person's real character more 
than the greatest sieges or the most important battles.'^ 

The life of a great man who has been conspicuously 
active in the affairs of his government must, of neces- 
sity, throw much light on contemporary history; indeed, 
it has been asserted that history is nothing but an 
aggregation of the biographies of individuals. 

The autobiography of a great man, eminent in any 
283 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

department of the world's activities, when unmarred by 
egotism or garrnlity, is, to us, especially enchanting. 
We have read with intense interest Senator Hoar's 
"Autobiography of Seventy Years." A tribute to the 
senator by one of his most distinguished contemporary 
statesmen is no doubt well deserved: "Eminent in his 
profession, successful in his political career, Mr. Hoar 
superadds accomplishments which neither the practice 
of law nor participation in public affairs can give. 
* * * He is independent without self-assertion, 
courageous without bravado, conscientious without Phar- 
isaism." 

The senator's beautiful compliment to his mother, 
who is the daughter of Eoger Sherman, first attracted 
our attention: "If she were in the company of a queen, 
it would never have occurred to her that they did not 
meet as equals. And if the queen were a woman of 
sense, and knew her, it would never occur to the queen." 

DANIEL WEBSTER. 

It seems that the course and utterances of Daniel 
Webster during the last few years of his life were a 
source of much discomfort and irritation to the aboli- 
tionists. On one occasion he declared that there was no 
North, and the South went clear up to the Canada line. 
He was the chief target for all antislavery arrows from 
March, 1850, till his death in the autumn of 1852. Dur- 
ing this period he took no part in political affairs in 
Massachusetts. He lived to suffer the mortification of 
seeing General Scott nominated for the presidency by 

284 



DANIEL WEBSTER 

his party, but died too soon to witness his overwhelming 
defeat by General Pierce. 

Senator Hoar, when quite young, heard Webster 
make a speech. He says that the latter almost lifted 
his audience from their feet as his great organ tones 
rolled out his closing sentences. He declares that 
Webster was physically the most splendid specimen of 
noble manhood his eyes ever beheld — notwithstanding 
he was only five feet nine inches, and weighed one hun- 
dred and fifty-four pounds. The senator adds: "But 
then, as on all other occasions that I saw him, I should 
have been prepared to afiirm that he was over six feet 
high and weighed at least two hundred. The same 
glamour is said to have attended Louis Fourteenth, whose 
majesty of bearing was such that it never was discovered 
that he was a man of short stature until he was measured 
for his coffin.^^ 

He heard Webster conversing with some gentlemen 
on one occasion, but remembers very little of what he 
said; one thing, however, was that when the backward- 
ness or forwardness of the season was spoken of, that 
there was a day — June 15th — when, in every year, vege- 
tation was at about the same condition of forwardness, 
whether the spring was early or late. 

Webster is thus described by another: "He was not 
a handsome man; but he was tall, with a chest like a 
Hercules, a magnificent head with beetling brow, and 
cavernous melancholy black eyes of the most searching 
and significant expression. His mouth was sweet and 
mobile. His utterance was deliberate and dignified." 

It is related of Webster that a vein of melancholy 
285 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

tinged all his greatest utterances. This was pathetically 
exhibited in what he said of the changes in his birth- 
place: "The villagers are gone; an iinknown generation 
walks under our elms. Unknown faces meet and pass me 
in my own paternal acres. I recognize nothing but the 
tombs ! I have no acquaintance remaining but the 
dead.^' His biographer declares, however, that there was 
nothing morbid in his melancholy. "It was the sadness 
of a great intelligence who sees earth fading away and 
faces eternity." 

GAEL SCHURZ. 

Bismarck was an ardent admirer of Carl Schurz. In 
a conversation with Ambassador White, he said, "As a 
German, I am proud of Carl Schurz." Mr. Blaine, how- 
ever, did not participate in this feeling of pride and 
admiration; on the contrary, he detested Schurz, and 
had no appreciation whatever of his manly political 
independence. In his "Twenty Years of Congress" he 
gives a scathing analysis and estimate of the character 
and ability of the great German. The reading of it 
recalls the admirable and truthful observation of Pascal : 
"Eeason, that vaunted guide of life, nowhere exists as 
a pure and colorless light, but is perpetually tinctured 
by the medium through which it passes ; it flows in upon 
us through painted windows. * * * Truth herself 
varies like a landscape, as seen in a bright sunshine or 
on a cloudy day." 

Mr. Blaine declares that the political career of Mr. 
Schurz was consistent only in the frequency and agility 
of its changes. He then proceeds: 

286 



CARL SCHURZ 

"So deficient is he in the talent of extempore speak- 
ing, that he has been known to use a manuscript in an 
after-dinner response, a style of speech whose chief merit 
consists in its spontaneity, with apt reference to inci- 
dents which could not possibly be foreseen. * * * 
Schurz has not become rooted and grounded anywhere, 
has never established a home, is not identified with any 
community, is not interwoven with the interests of any 
locality or of any class, has no fixed relation to church 
or state, to professional, political, or social life, has 
acquired none of that companionship and confidence 
which unite old neighbors in the closest ties, and give to 
friendship its fullest development, its most gracious 
attributes. 

"Xor is Mr. Schurz's independence of party more 
pronounced or more complete than his independence of 
true American feeling. He has taken no pride in ap- 
pearing under the simple but lofty title of a citizen of 
the United States. He stands rather a representative 
German- American. 

"To Mr. Schurz the republic is not great ! ^This coun- 
try,' said he, in his centennial lecture, ^is materially 
great, but morally small.' " 

On the other hand. Senator Hoar, who is usually able 
to divest himself of those passions which cloud the in- 
tellects and warp the understandings of men, has much 
to say in commendation of Mr. Schurz : 

"Carl Schurz was a very interesting character. 
* * * He was admirably equipped for public service. 
Although a native of Germany, he had a most excellent, 
copious and clear English style. No man in either house 

287 



A CONGLOMERATE 

of congress equalled him in that respect. He was a 
clear reasoner, and not lacking on a fit occasion in stir- 
ring eloquence. * * * Mr. Blaine says of Schurz, 
with some exaggeration, but with some truth, that he 
has not become rooted and grounded anywhere, has 
never established a home, and is not identified with any 
community. 

"I do not agree with Mr. Blaine's estimate of Schurz 
as to extempore speaking. I have heard him make very 
effective speches in the senate, and elsewhere, that were 
undoubtedly extemporary. Mr. Blaine says that Schurz 
is so deficient in this respect that he has been known to 
use manuscript for an after-dinner response." 

HENRY WARD BEECHER. 

It is a well-known historical fact that during our 
Civil War the people of England, not only the aristo- 
cratic and wealthy classes, but the masses as well, sympa- 
thized with the South. Henry Ward Beecher was sent 
there with the hope that by his ability and persuasive 
eloquence a change in public sentiment might be effected. 
He delivered addresses in all the principal cities of Eng- 
land and was invariably confronted with a hostile 
audience. Senator Hoar relates that while Beecher was 
addressing a great crowd at Birmingham, he was con- 
stantly goaded with hostile interruptions, so that he 
had great difficulty in getting on. At last one fellow 
provoked the cheers and applause of the audience by cry- 
ing out: "Why didn't you put down the rebellion in 

288 



HENRY WAED BEECHER 

sixty days as you said you would?" Beeclier paused a 
moment until they became still, in the eagerness to hear 
his reply, and then hurled back : "We should if they had 
been Englishmen." "The fierce, untamed animal," says 
the Senator, "hesitated a moment between anger and ad- 
miration, and then the English love of fair play and 
pluck prevailed, and the crowd cheered him and let him 
go on." 

It has been said of Mr. Beecher that he was physi- 
cally, intellectually, and morally of a very large pattern, 
and that there was something very grand and impressive 
about him. 

An estimate of Mr. Beecher by one of his most dis- 
tinguished contemporaries^^ is well w^orthy of reproduc- 
tion here: 

"Nothing could exceed his bold brilliancy. He was 
a man of genius; even more a poet than an orator; in 
sympathy with every noble cause; and utterly without 
fear of the pew-holders inside of his church or of the 
mob outside. Heresy hunters did not daunt him. 
Humor played over much of his sermonizing; wit cor- 
ruscated through it; but there was at times a pathos 
which pervaded the deep places of the human heart. By 
virtue of his poetic insight he sounded depths of thought 
and feeling which no mere theological reasoning could 
ever reach. He was a man — indeed, a great man — but 
to the end of his life he retained the freshness of youth. 
General Grant, who greatly admired him, once said to 
me, "Beecher is a boy — a glorious boy." 

"Andrew D. White. 

289 



A CONGLOMEEATE 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD. 



The most serious criticism of Seward has been on 
account of his undue prolixity. Cobden on one occasion 
declared that "Seward writes so much that he is in 
danger of being on every side of a subject.'^ And John 
Bigelow affirmed that his prolixity is sometimes "more 
creditable to his physical vigor of composition and his 
love of scholastic dialectics than to his sagacity." 

Mr. Blaine declared that few among the public men 
of the United States have rivaled Mr. Seward in the 
dignity, felicity and vigor which he imparted to an 
official paper; and that no one ever surpassed him. As 
an illustration, he gives the following extract from 
President Johnson's veto message written by Seward: 
"Experience, I think, has shown that it is the easiest, 
as it is also the most attractive, of studies to frame con- 
stitutions for the self-government of free states and 
nations; but I think experience has equally shown that 
it is the most difficult of all political labors to preserve 
and maintain such free constitutions of self-government 
when once happily established.'' 

It was the opinion of Blaine that Seward possessed a 
characteristic rare among men who have been accus- 
tomed to lead — he was a good listener. "He gave def- 
erential attention to remarks addressed to him, paid the 
graceful and insinuating compliment of seeming much 
impressed, and offered the delicate flattery, when he 
came to reply, of repeating the argument of his opponent 
in phrase far more affluent and eloquent than that in 

290 



WILLIAM II. SEWARD 

which it was originally stated." Mr. Blaine adds, truly, 
that in conflicts of opinion the superior mind, the subtle 
address, the fixed purpose, the gentle yet strong will, 
must in the end prevail. 

No man was more capable of giving a just estimate 
of Mr. Seward than the venerable and distignuished 
John Bigelow, who recently died in his ninety-fifth 
year. There was a personal intimacy between them. 
Bigelow was our ambassador at Paris during the 
war between the states and Seward was secretary of 
state. Many grave and delicate questions of inter- 
national importance arose during this trying period, 
the solution of which devolved upon them. In a letter 
to E. L. Pierce, written October 6, 1892, Mr. Bigelow 
gives the following estimate of Mr. Seward : 

"It is an easy thing to point out many of Seward's 
limitations. Though college bred, he was not in any 
proper sense of the word an educated man. He was 
licensed to practice law, but he embarked in politics 
so early in life that he was never much of a lawyer. 
* * * This is not apt in our country, at least, to make 
an entirely symmetrical man. The necessity and the 
habit of deferring to popular opinion weakens a man 
in the inverse ratio to his native force. The weak it 
crushes; the strong it elevates, but not symmetrically. 
To this influence Mr. Seward was no exception. One 
thing in which he excelled all the men of his time that 
I knew was his sagacity in discerning the trend of 
public opinion. When he discovered it, he re'verently 
bowed to it. * * * He had, like Lafayette and Sum- 

291 



A CONGLOMERATE 

ner, a "canine appetite for praise." * * * The world 
is not yet so good or so wise that it can afford to dispense 
with approbativeness as a native power. 

"He never lost sight of the all-important fact that the 
time mnst inevitably come when the people of the free 
and slave states would have to sleep in the same bed or 
to both sleep their last sleep as popular sovereignties."^^ 

CHARLES FRANCIS ADAMS. 

Seantor Hoar is our authority for the statement that 
Charles Francis Adams was rather dull as a public 
speaker; that he was apt to announce commonplaces 
slowly and deliberately, as if they were something he 
thought his audience was listening to for the first time. 

Mr. Adams was our ambassador to England from 1861 
to 1868, covering the critical period of our civil war. 
He was certainly well equipped for the high, responsible, 
and delicate duties of that position. Goldwin Smith 
complains that England was unfortunate in having 
Lord Eussell for her minister of foreign affairs at this 
time. He says that Russell's diplomatic manner was 
as bad as possible; that it was haughty, unconciliatory, 
and brusque ; that he afterwards apologized for his want 

^ It is a well-known historical fact that prior to the war 
between the states, Mr. Seward was the recognized leader 
of the anti-slavery men, and that it was from Seward they 
had learned their political creed. His defeat for the presi- 
dential nomination by an anti-slavery convention, led Sen- 
ator Toombs, of Georgia, to make that exultant, historic 
declaration, that "Actseon had been devoured by his own 
dogs." 

292 



PEESIDEXT HAYES— raCHARD W. THOMPSON" 

of courtesy, but it was too late. Mr. Smith adds, how- 
ever, that "we were lucky» on the other hand, in having, 
as the American ambassador, Mr. Adams, whose bear- 
ing throughout was excellent, and who, to the pride of 
aristocracy, could oppose the dignity of an illustrious 
line. Mr. i^dams' temper must have been tried. He 
certainly was not exposed during those years to the 
social allurements, under the sweet but emasculating 
influence of which American ambassadors to England 
are apt to fall.^' 

It was said that Mr. Adams rarely betrayed any deep 
emotion on any public occasion, however momentous. 

PRESIDENT HAYES. 

Senator Hoar, in his estimate of President Hayes, de- 
clares that he was a simple-hearted, sincere, strong and 
wise man ; and that the infinite sweetness and tact of his 
wife contributed greatly to the success of his admin- 
istration. 

RICHAED W. THOMPSON. 

The senator says that Richard W. Thompson, secre- 
tary of the navy under Hayes, was a very interesting 
character, a man of great common sense, public spirit, 
with a wonderful memory, and a rare fund of knowledge 
of the political history of the Northwest. 

He relates that at Secretary Sherman's dinner he 
asked Secretary Thompson across the table to which 
mast of a man-of-war the American flag should be at- 

293 



A CO:^GLOMERATE 

fcaehecl. Thompson coughed and stammered a little and 
said : "I think I shall refer that question to the attorney- 
general." 

GENERAL SHERIDAN". 

Upon the occasion of Senator Hoar's visit to New 
Orleans during the reconstruction era, General Sheri- 
dan's parting request was: ^^What you want to do, Mr. 
Hoar, when you get back to Washington, is to suspend 
the what-do-you-call-it." He meant, of course, the 
habeas corpus. 

GENERAL GRANT. 

The opinion prevailed at one time that Grant was a 
man without much literary capacity. Since the publica- 
tion of his "memoirs" this notion has been discarded. 
"I can testify to his great readiness as a writer," says 
Senator Hoar. "I saw him write two messages to con- 
gress, both of a good deal of importance, without pause 
or correction, and as rapidly as his pen could fly over 
the paper." 

Grant made a visit to Worcester in the summer and 
the senator went with him in a special car to Groton 
in the afternoon. Grant was not very talkative, though 
interested in all he saw. One of his sons, a well-grown 
lad, was upon the train. "The general had not seen him 
for some time, and he sat with one arm around him, as 
one might with a young girl." 

294 



CHARLES SUMISTER— JOHN J. INGALLS 

CHARLES SUMNER. 

Grant cared little for speech-making, but Sumner 
thought it. was all-important. The senator affirms that 
it sometimes seemed as if Sumner thought the rebellion 
itself was put down by speeches in the senate, and that 
the war was an unfortunate and most annoying, though 
trifling disturbance, as if a fire-engine had passed by. 

"To those of us who remember Sumner, he seems, as 
Disraeli said of Richard Cobden, ^still sitting, still de- 
bating, still legislating,' in the senate chamber. His 
great quality was his profound seriousness. He makes 
the impression on his hearers that the matter he is dis- 
cussing is that upon which the foundations of heaven 
and earth rest." 

JOHN JAMES INGALLS. 

Senator Hoar placed a high estimate upon the ability 
and culture of John James Ingalls. He says that 
Ingalls was in many respects one of the brightest intel- 
lects he ever knew. That he had an excellent English 
style, always impressive, often on fit occasions rising 
to great stateliness and beauty. He was for a while 
president pro tem. of the senate, in which position he 
maintained his stately dignity of bearing and speech. 
"I said to him one day," says the senator, "I think you 
are the best presiding officer I ever knew. But I do 
not think 3^ou know much about parliamentary law." 
To which he replied : "I think the sting is bigger than 
the bee." 

295 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

Mr. Blaine affirmed that the training and culture of 
Ingalls were far beyond that ordinarily implied by the 
possession of a college diploma. ^'His mind has been 
enriched by the study of books and disciplined by con- 
troversy at the bar and in the senate. As a speaker he 
is fluent and eloquent^ but perhaps too much given to 
severity of expression." 

PRESIDENT HARRISON". 

The people of Indiana are justly proud of Benjamin 
Harrison. His superior ability as a lawyer, his versa- 
tility upon the hustings, his conscientiousness, and, 
above all, his spotless private character, far more than 
compensate for any alleged eccentricities of manner or 
bearing. We know that prominent public men, even of 
his own party, did not feel kindly toward him, which 
we believe is accounted for by his woful want of tact 
and austerity of manner. 

Senator Hoar one day called on President Harrison 
to present a matter of considerable importance. In the 
senator^s account of the interview he says : "The presi- 
dent was very unwilling, indeed, to take this view. He 
answered me at first in his rough, impulsive way, and 
seemed very unwilling even to take the matter into con- 
sideration." 

Andrew D. White relates that when Senator Lodge, 
Roosevelt, himself, and their delegation reached the 
executive mansion at the time fixed by President Har- 
rison, their reception was anything but cordial. Mr. 

296 



CUSHMAN K. DAVIS 

White says : "Mr. Harrison seemed, to say the least, not 
in good humor. He stood leaning on the corner of his 
desk, and he asked none of us to sit. All of us had voted 
for him, and had come to him in his own interest as 
well as in the interest of the country; but he seemed to 
like us none the better for all that. 

"Courtesy was not generally considered Mr. Har- 
rison's strong point." 

CUSHMAN K. DAVIS. 

Eeferring to Cushman K. Davis, the senator declares 
that his mind was a marvelous storehouse of lit- 
erary gems which were unknown to most scholars, but 
rewarded his diligent search and loving study at his 
books. He says that Davis had what Jeremy Taylor 
calls "the great endearment of prudent and temperate 
speech." That he had read and mastered Tacitus, and, 
in the senator's opinion, a man who has mastered Taci- 
tus has had the best gymnastic training of the intellect, 
both in vigor and style, which the resources of all litera- 
ture can supply. 

He declares that Davis perpetrated "one of the most 
exquisite felicities of the literature of the senate," 
in his reference to Cleveland, Blount and the Queen of 
the Sandwich Islands. "His likening President Cleve- 
land and Mr. Blount, looking upon the late royalty of 
the Sandwich Islands with so much seriousness, to Don 
Quixote and Sancho Panza taking in great earnest the 
spectacle of a theatrical representation at a country fair 

297 



A CONGLOMERATE 

and eager to rescue the distressed damsel, was one of 
the most exquisite felicities of the literature of the 
senate." 

LORD COLERIDGE. 

The senator's recollections of Lord Coleridge are in- 
teresting. The noble lord received fifty guineas every 
morning for his services in the Tichborn trial. 

He asked the senator about an American judge with 
whom he had some acquaintance and was told that his 
reputation was rather that of a jurist than of a judge. 
"Oh, yes," said Coleridge, "a jurist is a man who knows 
something about the laws of every country but his own." 

His lordship had a great admiration for President 
Lincoln and was eager to hear anything anybody had to 
tell about him. Senator Hoar told him the famous 
story of Lincoln's reply to a man who had left with 
him his poem to read when he gave it back : "If anybody 
likes that sort of thing, it's just the sort of thing 
they'd like." The senator overheard his lordship as he 
circulated about the room, a little while afterward, re- 
peating the story to various listeners. 

BENJAMIN r. BUTLER AND S. S. COX. 

Sun Set Cox, who, as is well known, was very diminu- 
tive in size, made a scathing speech assailing Benjamin 
F. Butler. Butler, in his speech, took no notice of 
Cox till just as he was about to finish. He then said: 
"There is no need for me to answer the gentleman from 

298 



PEESIDENT GARFIELD— KUFUS CHOATE 

New York. Every negro minstrel just now is singing 
the answer, and the hand organs are playing the tune, 
''Shoo Fly, don't bodder me." 

PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 

Andrew D. White, in his Autobiography* pays this 
tribute to President Garfield : ''While he had risen under 
the most discouraging circumstances from complete pov- 
erty, his rise was due to something other than mere 
talent and exertion. It was the result of talent and 
exertion originating in noble instincts and directed to 
worthy ends.'' 

The following excerpt is from Garfield's memorable 
speech in the Chicago convention : 

"Not in Chicago, in the heat of June, but at the bal- 
lot-boxes of the republic in the quiet of November, after 
the silence of deliberate judgment, will this question be 
settled." 

RUFUS CHOATE. 

The voice of Rufus Choate was without any gruff or 
shrill tones. It was like a sweet, yet powerful, flute. 
He was always careful to keep warm. It was said he 
prepared for a great jury argument by taking off eight 
great coats and drinking eight cups of green tea. He 
gesticulated with his whole body, and Senator Hoar 
relates that Wendell Phillips "most irreverently as well 
as most unjustly compared him to a monkey in convul- 



299 



A CONGLOMEEATE 



EDWARD EVERETT. 



Of Edward Everett, the great New England orator, 
the senator says that his touch npon the nerves of the 
audience was like that of a gentle nurse. When he came 
to state the strong point in arguing his case, he would 
sink his voice so that he could hardly be heard, and look 
away like a bashful maiden giving her consent. 

We have read the "Autobiography" of Andrew D. 
White. If a more valuable and interesting contribution 
to the literature of the period has been made during the 
twentieth century, it has either escaped our observation 
or is beyond our comprehension. In his first chapter he 
declares that early in life he became educated into that 
great truth, "so imperfectly understood, as yet, in our 
country, that stores, shops, hotels, facilities for travel 
and traffic are not the highest things in civilization." 

Mr. Wliite was the first president of Cornell Univer- 
sity; American minister at Berlin, also at St. Peters- 
burg; afterwards American ambassador at Berlin; and 
has held many other high positions. He is a man of the 
highest attainments and culture. He was on terms of 
intimacy with many of the public men of Europe, and 
was familiar with public events, not omitting, while 
abroad, to keep himself advised of public affairs in his 
own country. 

BISMARCK. 

Mr. White considered Bismarck the greatest German 
since Luther. Though an Israelite, he showed none of 
the grasping propensities so often ascribed to his race. 

300 



BISMARCK— EMPEROR WILLIAM 

When he uttered the famous saying, "We Germans fear 
God and naught beside/' our author declares that he 
simply projected into the history of Germany his own 
character. 

Bismarck, when the occasion demanded, gave the 
most curious examples of the eloquence of silence; but 
Mr. White says: "I have known many clever speakers 
and some very powerful orators ; but I have never known 
one capable, in the same degree, of overwhelming his 
enemies and carrying his whole country with him." 

Louis Xapoleon was for a while the arbiter of Europe. 
Bismarck pronounced him "a great unrecognized in- 
capacity," and the world finally discovered that Bis- 
marck was right. 

It was Bismarck who said "in his slashing way" that 
Lord Salisbury was a reed painted to look like iron. 
Goldwin Smith declared that this was exaggeration, but 
confessed that he had more confidence in the judgment 
and rectitude of Salisbury than in his strength. 

The world is indebted to Bismarck for the apothegm : 
"Revenge is a delicacy that should be eaten cold." 

EMPEEOR WILLIAM. 

Mr. T\Tiite says that the union of breadth and minute- 
ness in his view of his empire and of the world is, per- 
haps, the emperor's most striking characteristic. An- 
other attribute which he possesses in the highest degree 
is independence of thought — "this quality should not 
be confounded, however, as it often is, with man's off- 
hand decision based upon prejudices or whimsies." 

301 



A CONGLOMERATE 

Our author describes what he terms "the occasional 
plaintive declarations" that the emperor does not love 
the United States or admire its institutions. 

It was generally understood during the peace confer- 
ence at The Hague that he did not favor arbitration be- 
cause he considered it derogatory to his sovereignty. 

Eefering to the emperor's guests, Mr. White affirms 
that one class was conspicuous by its absence at all 
such gatherings large or small; namely, the merely 
rich. "Rich men were there, but they were always men 
who had done something of marked value to their 
country or to mankind; for the mere ^fatty tumors' of 
the financial world he evidently cared nothing." 

Of course the doctrine of Use majesty can have no 
application in this country; it is contrary to the genius 
of our institutions. It is defined to be any crime com- 
mitted against sovereign power; in this country sov- 
ereignty rests with the people. Mr. White considers the 
subject in its application to Germany. 

"The simple fact is that German public opinion, em- 
bodied in German law, has arrived at the conclusion 
that it is not best to allow the head of the state to be the 
sport of every crank or blackguard who can wield a pen 
or pencil. The American view, which allowed Lincoln, 
Garfield and McKinley to be attacked in all the moods 
and tenses of vituperation, and to be artistically por- 
trayed as tyrants, drunkards, clowns, beasts of prey, and 
reptiles, has not yet been received into German modes 
of thought.' 



302 



COUNT LEO TOLSTOI 

COUNT LEO TOLSTOI. 

Mr. White affirms that for the first time in the history 
of Russia, a man of world-wide fame in literature and 
thought was abiding there — Count Leo Tolstoi. He 
says, however, that of all distinguished men he ever met, 
Tolstoi seemed to him most in need of "that enlargement 
of view and healthful modification of opinion which 
came from meeting men and comparing views with them 
in different lands and under different conditions." He 
declared Tolstoi to be one of the most sincere and de- 
voted men alive, a man of great genius and, at the same 
time, of very deep sympathy with his fellow-creatures. 
That as to the moral side, "The stream of his thought 
was usually limpid, but at times it became turbid and 
his better ideas seemed to float on the surface as irides- 
cent bubbles." 

Mr. White notes Tolstoi's keen thrusts at those who 
seek to hide the poverty of their ideas in the obscurity 
of their phrases. 

Tolstoi remarked to Mr. White that women are not 
so self-sacrificing as men ; that a man would sometimes 
sacrifice his family for an idea, but that a woman would 
not. Again, referring to women, he said that woman 
hangs upon the past ; that public opinion progresses, but 
that women are prone to act on the opinion of yesterday 
or of last year; that women and womenish men take 
naturally to old absurdities, among which he mentioned 
the doctrines of the trinity, spiritism, and homeopathy. 
He said that education would not change women; that 
they are illogical by nature. 

303 



A CO:^GLOMERATE 

Mr. White affirms that as to French literature^ Tol- 
stoi thought Maupassant the man of greatest talent, by 
far, in recent days, but that he was depraved and cen- 
tered all his fiction in women. For Balzac he evidently 
preserved admiration, but he cared little for Daudet, 
Zolo, and their compeers. 

Upon being asked by Mr. White if he had formed a 
theory as to the future life, he said in substance that he 
had not ; "but that as we came at birth from beyond the 
forms of space and time, so at death we returned whence 
we came.'^ Mr. White inquired if he used the word 
"forms" in the Kantian sense. "Yes," he said, "space 
and time have no reality." 

He declared religion to be the feeling which man 
has regarding his relation to the universe, including his 
fellow-man, and to the power which governs all. 

Tolstoi related the story of a converted pagan who, 
being asked how many gods he worshiped, said: "One, 
and I ate him this morning." 

Mr. WHiite drew from him his views on various sub- 
jects : Tolstoi declared that one main obstacle in human 
progress is the suppression of the real thoughts of men ; 
that he had no liking for verse» and acquiesced in Car- 
lyle^s saying that nobody had ever said anything in verse 
which could not have been better said in prose. Upon 
being asked about his manual labor, he said "his habit 
was to rise early and read or write till noon, then to take 
his luncheon and a short sleep and after that to work 
in his garden or fields." He thought this good for him 
on every account in which opinion Mr. White fully con- 
curred. 

304 



GEOVER CLEVELAND— HEEBERT SPENCER 

GROVER CLEVELAND. 

Though allied to opposite political parties, Mr. White 
had great respect and admiration for Grover Cleveland. 
Prior to Mr. Cleveland's administration, the Monroe 
doctrine had been merely a beautiful and most fascinat- 
ing theory. It was left to Mr. Cleveland to give it a 
practical application and to place the doctrine upon a 
solid and enduring foundation. 

When Lord Salisbury, after some months' delay, re- 
turned an answer declining arbitration of the Vene- 
zuela question, accompanied with an emphatic declara- 
tion that international law did not recognize the Monroe 
doctrine, it was believed on both sides of the Atlantic 
that a crisis was at hand and that war was imminent. 
Mr. Cleveland was equal to the emergency and his states- 
manship finally triumphed. Mr. White truly character- 
izes the settlement as a happy solution of the whole ques- 
tion, and a triumph of American diplomacy in the cause 
of right and justice. He adds : 

"During my work upon the Venezuela commission, 
I learned to respect more and more the calm, steady, 
imperturbable character of Mr. Cleveland. * * * Mr. 
Cleveland and the state department gained one of the 
most honorable victories in the history of American 
diplomacy." 

HERBERT SPENCER. 

Mr. White recalls a remark of Herbert Spencer that 
human physiology should be taught at the beginning 
of every course — that is to say, an account of the struc- 

305 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

ture, functions and proper management of the human 
body, on which so much depends for every human being. 
We are perfectly convinced of the truth of this state- 
ment. However it may be now, we know that fifty years 
ago this branch of study was not taught at one of our 
great institutions of learning, the United States Naval 
Academy at Annapolis. It is to be hoped that physi- 
ology has long since been added to the curriculum. 

CERRO GORDO WILLIAMS. 

Our author has a word to say about our old neighbor, 
Cerro Gordo Williams : 

"The spread-eagle oratory of Cerro Gordo Williams 
was not appreciated by his colleagues in the senate. 
He became utterly disgusted and went about saying that 
the senate was a "d — d frigid respectable body that 
chilled his intellect.'' 

We know that Senator Williams had the love, re- 
spect and admiration of his senatorial constituency. 
They, and the descendants of those that are dead would 
listen with mingled feelings of surprise and indignation, 
at any intimation that his only merit was that of being 
a spread-eagle orator. 

PROFANE PATRIOTISM. 

Mr. White relates an incident which he says he has 
quoted more than once to show "how the average Amer- 
ican — though apparently a crude materialist — m, at 
heart, a thorough idealist : 

306 



EEVIYALS AXD CAMP MEETINGS 

At the beginning of the Civil War a millionaire said: 
"I am putting everything I can rake and scrape together 
into national bonds, to help this government maintain 
itself; for, by G — d, if I am not to have any country, I 
don't want any money." 

REVIVALS AND CAMP MEETINGS. 

Our author, early in life, acquired an intense hostility 
to revivals and camp meetings ; and, in later years there 
seems not to have been any abatement of this antipathy. 
He refers to the statement of the revivalists that "hell is 
filled with infants not a span long", and describes him 
as a "big, fleshy creature, storming and raging and 
claiming to announce a divine message." He then pro- 
ceeds : 

"The simplest and most harmless amusements were 
denounced, and church members guilty of taking part in 
them were obliged to stand in the broad aisle and be 
publicly reprimanded from the pulpit." Again he says : 

"I have long regarded camp meetings as among the 
worst influences to which our rural youth are subjected 
— Joe Miller jokes in the pulpit, hysterics in the pews, 
with an atmosphere often blasphemous and sometimes 
erotic. * * * The longer I live the more I am con- 
vinced that the professional revivalist and the sensation 
preacher are necessarily and normally foes both to re- 
ligion and civilization." 

Notwithstanding the objurgations of our author against 
revivals and camp meetings, we are constrained to re- 
mark that we know many excellent and conscientious 

307 



A CONGLOMEEATE 

people who believe that they have been the means of 
accomplishing much good in the world. 

John Bigelow's "Eetrospections of an Active Life/' 
in three volumes, is another invaluable contribution to 
the literature of the period. He was United States 
minister to France during our war between the states 
and thus became familiar with the important public 
events of this critical period, and acquired a knowledge 
of the character and abilities of public men on both 
sides of the Atlantic. His recollections of men and 
events are intensely interesting. 

PRESIDENT LIN^COLN. 

Mr. Bigelow says of President Lincoln: 
"Lincoln's greatness must be sought for in the con- 
stituents of his moral nature. * * * St. Paul hardly 
endured more indignities and buffetings without com- 
plaint. He was not a learned man. He was not even 
one who would deserve to be called in our day an edu- 
cated man. He had never been out of the United States 
nor seen much of the portion of them lying east of the 
Allegheny mountains. * * * In the ordinary sense of 
the word, Mr. Lincoln was not a statesman." 

WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE. 

He gives the following estimate of Gladstone: 
"His power, like the late Daniel Webster's, consists 
more in his skill in using material than in his ability 

308 



EMPEROR NAPOLEON 

to provide it; that he is a manufacturer rather than a 
producer. * * * jjg j-^^g nothing like the same ca- 
pacity for discerning truths that he has for propagating 
them when discovered. * * * He has very moderate 
creative or constructive faculties, but his power, like that 
of a mill, consists mainly in his ability to convert and 
adapt the material put into it by others, to the use and 
convenience of society .'' 

THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON. 

Mr. Bigelow says that the Emperor's conversation 
was characterized by unusual rapidity of thought and 
marvelous conciseness of expression. On one occasion, 
with one of his incomprehensible smiles, the emperor 
remarked, "If the North is victorious I shall be happy; 
if the South is victorious I shall be enchanted." 

It is quite evident that Goldwin Smith neither loved 
nor admired the emperor; indeed he is almost vitriolic 
in his characterization of him. 

Mr. Smith is authority for the statement that had the 
French emperor chosen, in pursuance of his own designs, 
to intervene on the side of the South, England could 
not have been permitted to intervene on the side of the 
North, because the opposition would have been far 
too strong. It was his opinion that the North owed a 
good deal to the attitude of Russia, whatever the motive 
of that attitude may have been. 

Mr. Smith proceeds to excoriate the emperor: 

*T(Ouis Napoleon, like his putative uncle, wanted the 
consecration of glory for his usurped throne, and a 

309 



A CONGLOMERATE 

recognized place for himself, an upstart of birth not 
unquestioned, among the crowned heads of Europe, 
v/hich he gained by being allowed publicly to embrace 
the queen of England. * * * He was a political 
cracksman who with his legs under your table would be 
meditating a raid upon your strong box. His friend 
and confederate, Palmerston, at last awakened to his real 
character and bade the nation stand upon its guard." 

Again, Mr. Smith says : 

"I have alluded to the French emperor's birth. I 
once asked the best authority I knew on social France 
whether Louis Napoleon was the son of his reputed 
father, and whether the prince imperial, on whose birth 
also doubt was cast, was the child of his reputed parents. 
The first question was answered decidedly in the nega- 
tive; the second not less decidedly in the affirmative. 
There seems to be little doubt that Louis Napoleon was 
the son of the Dutch Admiral Verhuel. Court painters 
and sculptors struggled in vain to give him the Napo- 
leonic brow. Perhaps his Dutch phlegm and reticence 
gave him some advantage over the volatile Frenchmen 
with whom he had to deal." 

DUMAS. 

Dumas expressed to Mr. Bigelow a desire to visit the 
United States. The latter suggested that if he could 
witness the election of the next president in November 
and his inauguration in March, "it would give an epic 
completeness to his visit," which it might be worth his 
taking some trouble to secure. However, Dumas never 

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SIE HENRY BULWER 

made the contemplated visit. Bigelow declares that he 
was always impecunious, and doubtless expected our 
government would "lubricate his mission to America 
with a generous allowance." 

He adds: "Dumas is a quadroon. * * * He is a 
man whose domestic relations are extremely French. To 
illustrate — when I asked him if he spoke English, "No," 
he replied, "I read it and translate it, but I can't speak 
it; but my mistress is English, and I shall pick it up 
very soon." 

SIR HEXRY BULWER. 

It has been said that one of the essential requisites 
of a gentleman is to know how to pass a compliment. 
Measured by this standard. Sir Henry Bulwer was a 
gentleman in the most comprehensive sense. He de- 
clares: "I can say with truth that three of the most 
eminent statesmen I ever knew were American states- 
men; three of the greatest orators I ever knew were 
American orators; three of the most agreeable men of 
letters I ever knew were American men of letters; three 
of the most charming women I ever knew were American 
women." 

Sir Henry did not enjoy the best of health. In a 
letter to Mr. Bigelow he says: "My health is better. 
I have left off smoking, drink little tea or coffee — but 
do not lead a healthy life. * * * For myself, I live 
with myself and my memories." We here reproduce 
some of his apothegms : 

"One of the greatest arts in the conduct of affairs 
311 



A CONGLOMERATE 

is to avoid extreme conclusions; and no victory is per- 
fect unless it is pardoned by the vanquished. 

"Everything about man is progressing, but man him- 
self is, in my opinion, rather retrograding. 
"One does not find repose in finding idleness." 
Referring to Sir Henry, Mr. Bigelow makes the fol- 
lowing pertinent comments : "Unhappily, he was content 
to make his own pleasure, his own interests, and his own 
ambition, the aims and ends of his life; seemingly not 
aware that history measures the greatness of a statesman 
more by what he does for others than by what he aims 
to do for himself." 

THE ATLANTIC CABLE. 

The successful laying of the Atlantic cable was one of 
the great events of the nineteenth century. We remem- 
ber quite well the universal delight and satisfaction that 
prevailed on the occasion of its completion. Cyrus W. 
Field sent a cablegram to Mr. Bigelow in Paris that the 
cable had been successfully laid. It was received July 
28th, 1866, at twenty-eight minutes past five in the 
morning. Mr. Bigelow sent the following cablegram in 
reply: 

"I trust the umbilical cord with which the old world 
is reunited to its transatlantic offspring may never 
transmit intelligence less welcome than this to patriotic 
Americans." 

BIGELOW'S RETIREMENT. 

Mr. Bigelow having ably and faithfully discharged the 
high and important duties of American minister to 

312 



J0H2^ BIGELOW 

France from 1861 till the autumn of ISGG, he expressed 
to Secretary Seward his ardent desire to return to Amer- 
ica and to private life. He writes Mr. Seward : 

"You know it was my intention, when I left my 
profession, to betake myself to my books and to private 
life. * * * J have no longer the ambition of youth 
which might have found in the honors of my present 
position a compensation for its cares, and, in a word, I 
am homesick. I wish to go back to the country in which 
I was reared, and to those surviving friends who, of 
course, grow more precious to me as their numbers 
diminish." On the 14th of October, 1866, he again 
writes: "I left my library and its tranquil joys very 
reluctantly in 1861, and I have long yearned to get 
back to them." 

We have always entertained the highest respect and 
admiration for Mr. Bigelow. Judged by his writings, he 
evidently possessed that deep sagacity that may be ac- 
quired by long habits of thinking and study. That he 
had a vastness of comprehension, a maturity of judg- 
ment, and a critical discrimination cannot be questioned. 
He had high literary and scholastic attainments, and his 
ardent desire to return to his library and its "tranquil 
joys" indicates very clearly his fondness for the elevating 
and refining pursuits of literature. 

We have been captivated by Bigelow's style of compo- 
sition. It was said of Burke that "in his youth he 
wrote on the emotions produced by mountains and cas- 
cades; by the masterpieces of painting and sculpture; 
by the faces and necks of beautiful women, in the style 
of a parliamentary report. In his old age, he discussed 

313 



A CONGLOMERATE 

treaties and tariffs in the most fervid and brilliant lan- 
guage of romance/^ Bigelow^s style is always appropri- 
ate to the subject under consideration — but always per- 
spicuous — always forcible — alwa3^s fascinating. 

The services which he rendered his country as min- 
ister to France, during the most critical period of its 
history, were no less valuable and important than those 
of any general in the field or any statesman in the cab- 
inet. 



314 



JOURNAL 



JOURNAL. 

DEFENSE OF DRUNKENNESS. 

Occasionall}^ we find a man who is singularly perverse 
in his opinions. The fact that no one agrees with him 
does not deter him for a moment. He has no intention 
of going with the multitude in the advocacy of either a 
good or a bad cause. 

It is said that Senator McDougal of California, a 
brilliant and able man, made the best defense of drunk- 
enness ever made. It is probable, however, that in his 
case, it was the love of liquor, and its immediate effects, 
rather than a love of singularity that induced him to 
make this marvelous effort. He was a man of convivial 
tastes and habits, and imagined, no doubt, that he had 
a keener and more exquisite appreciation of the beauties 
and delights of this world, when under the influence of 
intoxicants. He said : 

"Mr. President, I pity the man who has never viewed 
the affairs of this world, save from the poor, low, mis- 
erable plane of ordinary sobriety.^' 

PRESIDENT TAFT. 

March 16, 1909. 
Mr. Taft has been inaugurated as president. Many 
of us who voted against him feel assured that he is ad- 

317 



JOUENAL 

mirably equipped for the discharge of the duties of his 
great office; and we feel doubly assured, that he will be 
neither violent in innovation, nor scurrilous in contro- 
versy. These attributes would be entirely unbefitting 
the executive of a great nation. He will not, like the 
Justicia of ancient Aragon, assume that his opinion is 
of "equal authority with the law itself.'^ 

FONDNESS FOR AMUSEMENTS. 

The American people have a strong predilection in 
favor of amusements. An indubitable evidence of the 
fact is the circumstance that a great newspaper, pub- 
lished in a large city, delayed publication for two hours 
in order to be able to report the result of a game of 
baseball — at a time, too, when great events were im- 
pending throughout the world, the outcome of which 
was of primary importance to mankind, and information 
concerning which would, ordinarily, be awaited with in- 
tense anxiety. 

SENATOR VEST ON THE DOG. 

The late Senator Vest of Missouri, was loved, re- 
spected and admired, not only by his own immediate 
constituents, but by the people of the country at large. 
He was one of the leaders of his party in the senate 
and an orator of more than national reputation. He was 
formidable in debate; his speeches always logical and 
forcible, was quick at repartee, and had a keen apprecia- 
tion of humor. It was at the close of an elaborate and 

318 



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eloquent address made by an eminent New England 
senator highly eulogistic of the Pilgrim fathers, that 
Senator Vest arose and said : "Yes, the Pilgrims landed 
and fell on their knees, and then fell on the Aborigines." 
This sally caused much merriment, and had a tendency 
to mar the fine effect of the eloquent speech that had pre- 
ceded it. 

No stronger proof of the love and fidelity of the 
canine race can be given than the fact that they have 
been known to pine away and die of grief, on account 
of the death of their masters — an intensity of feeling 
seldom displayed by human beings upon the death of 
their loved ones. Indeed, the fidelity of the dog has 
at all times been so universally recognized and admitted, 
that a reiteration of the fact would seem trite and super- 
fluous. However, Senator Vest's beautiful and impres- 
sive tribute to the dog is worthy of preservation. It is 
related that some years ago he was traveling through 
Missouri on business. One day he came to a town that 
was greatly excited over a dog case that was on trial 
in the local court. The senator visited the courtroom 
and found the lawyers for the plaintiff to be warm, 
friends of his. They invited him to join them in prose- 
cuting the slayer of their client's dog, and he consented. 
When the evidence was all in the senator was asked to 
make the speech to the jury, and this is what he said : 

"The best friend a man has in the world may turn 
against him and become his enemy. His son or daugh- 
ter that he has reared with loving care may prove un- 
grateful. Those who are nearest and dearest to u>:, 
those whom we trust with our happiness and our good 

319 



JOUENAL 

name, may become traitors to their faith. The money 
that a man has he may lose. It flies away from him, 
perhaps when he needs it most. A man's reputation 
may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. 
The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do 
us honor when success is with us may be the first to 
throw the stone of malice when failure settles its cloud 
upon our heads. The one absolutely unselfish friend 
that a man can have in this selfish world, the one that 
never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrate- 
ful or treacherous, is his dog. A man's dog stands by 
him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sick- 
ness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the 
wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only 
he may be near his master's side. He will kiss the 
hand that has no food to offer ; he will lick the sores and 
wounds that come in encounters with the roughness of 
the world. He guards the sleep of his pauper master 
as if he were a prince. When all other friends desert 
he remains. When riches take wings and reputation 
falls to pieces, he is as constant in his love as the sun 
in its journey through the heavens. If fortune drives 
the master forth an outcast in the world, friendless and 
homeless, the faithful dog asks no higher privilege than 
that of accompanying him, to guard against danger, 
to fight against his enemies. And when the last scene 
of all comes, and death takes the master in its embrace, 
and his body is laid away in the cold ground, no matter 
if all other friends pursue their way, there by the grave 
side will the noble dog be found, his head between his 

320 



JOUENAL 

paws, his eyes sacl, but open in alert watchfulness, 
faithful and true even in death." 

Mr. Vest sat down. He had spoken in a low voice, 
without a gesture. He made no reference to the evi- 
dence or the merits of the case. When he finished the 
judge and jury were wiping their eyes. The jury filed 
out, but soon entered with a vexdict of five hundred dol- 
lars for the plaintiff whose dog was shot. 2* 

BIGELOW'S DEDICATION-. 

I have read John Bigelow's dedication of his great 
book, "Eetrospections of an Active Life." It is as fol- 
lows : "To Jane Poultney Bigelow my wife, and mother 
of my children, these volumes are gratefully dedicated." 

This impresses me as exquisitely beautiful. It sug- 
gets all the loves and tendernesses of domestic life — 
conjugal, paternal, maternal, fraternal, filial — a glorious 
combination, indeed! 

ALLITERATION. 

"Alliteration's artful aid" is rarely called into requisi- 
tion in this age and generation, compared with its use 
in former times. Milton defined rhyme to be "the 
jingling sound of like endings," and alliteration has been 
defined to be the jingling of like beginnings. It seems, 
however, that this last definition is hardly sufficiently 
comprehensive as, in practice, the alliterative "jingle" 
is not confined to beginnings. 
^Newspaper report of trial. 
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JOUENAL 

I am not at all familiar with the laws of alliterative 
verse, but poets have at all times availed themselves of 
its use. We read in Shakespeare : 

"Full fathom five thy father lies; 
Of his bones are corals made." 

In Pope: 

"Here, files of pins extend their shining rows 
Puffs, powders, patches, bibles, billet-doux." 

Whipple, the essayist, gave special attention to al- 
literative composition; and it is said that one of his 
best sentences was that in which he truly described the 
mental processes of the three great contemporary states- 
men, Webster, Calhoun and Clay. 

"Webster was inductive, Calhoun deductive, and Clay 
seductive." 

MODERATION. 

Even the word has an especial charm for me. It 
suggests the aroma of the freshness of the early morning. 
If I were a public man I should desire above all things 
else to be best known as the "apostle of moderation." 
Think of the calamities that might have been averted 
in this world if the principle of moderation had been 
recognized and acted upon. If it had not been for the 
radicalism of the Chandlers and the Yanceys, the great 
civil war in America would not have occurred, and the 
lives of scores of thousands would not have been sacri- 
ficed, to say nothing of the vast expenditure of millions 
of money. The thought has an admirable illustration 

322 



JOUENAL 

in the description of a fine gentleman contained in the 
introduction to the "Bride of Lammermoor :" 

"In's jestiire, converse, speech, discourse, attire. 
He practis'd that which wise men still admire, 
Commend and recommend. 'What's that?' you say? 
'Tis this: He ever choosed the middle way 
'Twixt both th' extremes." 

Mr. Hallam, the great historian of the middle ages, 
emphasizes the thought when he declares (I quote from 
memory) that "that course which is most conducive to 
individual and national prosperity and happiness is a 
middle line between gross dissoluteness on the one hand 
and fanatical mortification on the other." 

POLITICAL JOINT DEBATES. 

It is very doubtful whether political joint discussions 
result in conversions from the one political party to the 
other; but the attrition of mind with mind, the quick 
repartee, and the tart replies of the contestants, fre- 
quently furnish much amusement to the audience. 

Mr. Bryan was addressing a vast assemblage on the 
side of a mountain near Asheville. While in the midst 
of one of his great flights of eloquence, when the people 
about him and all nature were profoundly silent, a mule 
brayed, exhibiting extraordinary powers of vociferation. 
Mr. Bryan paused and, looking seriously at the vast 
audience, said : "My countrymen, I had not been advised 
that this was to be a joint discussion." 

I read not long ago of a joint debate between a Dcmo- 
323 



JOUENAL 

cratic and a Whig politician in the state of New York. 
The Democrat spoke with miich eloquence and power 
in favor of Martin Van Buren, and, in the course of 
his speech, he referred to Mr. Van Buren as "the Curtius 
of the republic." His Wliig opponent, not being himself 
a classical scholar, passed out into the audience and in- 
quired of a gentleman, "Who in the thunder is this 
Curtis that this man is talking about ?" "It isn't Curtis, 
it's Curtius," was the reply. "Well, now," said the Whig 
orator, "what did Curtius do ?" "Oh," said his inform- 
ant, "he threw himself into an abyss to save the Eoman 
republic." When the Democratic speaker had finished, 
the Whig orator arose and said : 

"I deny the justice of the gentleman's reference to 
Curtius and Martin Van Buren. What did Curtius do? 
He threw himself into an abyss to save his country. 
What did Martin Van Buren do ? He threw his country 
into an abyss to save himself." 

WILLIAM PITT FESSENDEN. 

The great statesmen developed during our Civil War 
period seem to have been almost entirely forgotten. 
Not so, however, with the great captains of that genera- 
tion; on many occasions they are eulogized and in some 
instances almost deified. 

William Pitt Fessenden, of Maine, was one of the in- 
tellectual giants of that era. He was chosen United 
States senator from Maine in 1854, and held this exalted 
position almost continuously until his death in 1869. 
For a brief period, however, he was secretary of the 

324 



JOUENAL 

treasury, having succeeded Mr. Chase in 1864. His 
intellectual supremacy was conceded, and his public 
character has been described as of the highest type of 
patriotism, courage, integrity, and disinterestedness. He 
was the acknowledged leader of the Republican party in 
the senate, but this leadership was imperiled by his vote 
to acquit Andrew Johnson in the impeachment trial; 
and for this vote he was subjected to a torrent of inso- 
lence and scurrility from members of his own party, 
almost without a parallel in the history of modern 
politics. 

Mr. Fessenden was described by one of his colleagues 
in the senate as "towering in mind above those around 
him, like Saul in form among his countrymen." 

THE LATEST NOVEL. 

It is the fashion, at the present day, to discuss-, at 
the table, in the parlor, and elsewhere, the latest novel, 
no matter how insipid and puerile it may be. On an 
occasion of this kind, it is intensely diverting to be in- 
terrogated by a young lady who asks you six questions, 
in rapid succession, as to whether you have read the six 
latest novels, naming them. Your answers being all in 
the negative, it would seem that two facts are con- 
clusively established: your own stupidity, and her ex- 
traordinary literary attainments. 

THE SIGNAL FOR PARTING. 

Many beautiful customs formerly prevailed in Scot- 
325 



JOUENAL 

land. We learn of some of them from Sir Walter Scott, 
and my eye fell upon one to-day. 

At a social function when the time to separate had 
arrived, the musicians played the signal for parting, 
which was well known throughout Scotland: 

"Good night, and joy be with you all." 

This must have added very much to the kindly feeling 
existing between host and guest, and I can conceive of 
no more appropriate and delightful manner of terminat- 
ing an evening's social entertainment. 

DRAMATIC ORATORY. 

We all know how important it is for the public 
speaker to have the sympathy of his audience; and, in 
years gone by, in order to obtain this sympathy, he 
sometimes referred to his advancing years; however, in 
this age and generation, it very rarely occurs that an 
advocate introduces himself with a tedious preface about 
the infirmities of his constitution. 

Henry Clay, addressing the senate on the compromise 
measures of 1850, most effectively referred to his great 
age and failing strength, and to his purpose to retire 
from public life. He assured the senators that if they 
would pass the pending bill and tranquilize the country 
(a desire ever dear to his heart), he would go home to 
Ashland and renounce public life forever, and there 
remain during the brief remnant of his life. That he 
would there find amidst his flocks and herds, and in the 

326 



JOUENAL 

bosom of his family, sincerity and truth, attachment and 
fidelity, that he had not always found in the walks of 
public life. 

On another occasion when Mr. Clay was addressing 
the senate on the subject of the pacification of the 
country, he again referred to his advancing years. The 
venerable Senator Smith, of Maryland, arose and said: 
"Though twenty years the senior of the senator from 
Kentucky I can still stand erect and correct his errors. 
When the senator spoke of his great age I heard a lady 
declare : ^Indeed, he is very pretty.' " 

When a boy I heard Major John C. Mason, who for 
several years represented the ninth Kentucky district in 
congress, relate to some gentleman an interview between 
^Ir. Clay and himself, in respect to these pacificatory 
measures. Mason was a Democrat. He said: "Mr. 
Clay came and urged me to support the pending bill 
to the end that civil war and bloodshed might be averted.. 
I asked him if he felt thoroughly satisfied that his bill, 
if enacted into a law, would have that effect. He re- 
plied that it would have that effect during his day at 
least. I told him that if war and bloodshed must come, 
it had as well come during his day as mine."^^ 

It was the habit of Coleridge to make long-winded 
prefatory apologies for his youth and inexperience. He 
was cured of this habit, however, by Home Tooke, one 
of his literary contemporaries. It was said that Tooke 

"^ This incident made a profound impression upon my 
youthful mind, and I relate it at the risk of being re- 
minded of its irrelevancy, and of the fact, that to deal in 
reminiscences is sometimes regarded as both the sign and 
the refuge of "advancing years." 

327 



JOUENAL 

had a thorough knowledge of the manners of a man of 
the world, with marvelous scholastic resources, a rare 
union, indeed ! On one occasion, when Coleridge was 
making his usual introductory apology. Home Tooke 
abruptly called out, "Speak up, young man." Coleridge, 
completely disconcerted, took his seat, and it is nowhere 
recorded that he ever again committed the offense. 

Edward Everett, the great New England orator, was 
not averse to dramatic effect in| some of his orations. 
Senator Hoar relates that on one occasion Mr. Everett 
turned in the midst of his speech to the seat where 
Amos Baker and Jonathan Harrington sat, and ad- 
dressed them. They were veterans of the war of 1812. 
At once they both stood up, and Mr. Everett said, with 
fine dramatic effect, "Sit, venerable friends. It is for 
us to stand in your presence.'' After the proceedings 
were over, old Amos Baker was heard to say to some- 
body, "What do you suppose Squire Everett meant ? He 
came to us before his speech and told us to stand up 
when he spoke to us, and when we stood up, he told us 
to sit down." 

The historian of the period declares in reference to 
the great trial of Warren Hastings, that there never was 
a spectacle so well calculated to strike a highly culti- 
vated, a reflecting, an imaginative mind. The curiosity 
of the public to hear Sheridan's speech was unbounded. 
"When he concluded he contrived, with a knowledge of 
stage effect which his father might have envied, to sink 
back, as if exhausted, into the arms of Burke, who hugged 
him with the energy of generous admiration." 

328 



JOURNAL 

THE AGILITY OF BIG MEN. 

Judge David Davis, of Illinois, who was a national 
figure at the time of the electoral dispute in 1876, was 
a man of enormous proportions, weighing several hun- 
dred pounds. He was proverbial for the agility of his 
movements. At Chicago on one occasion, however, it 
was only with great difficulty that the hackman, assisted 
by the gathering crowd, succeeded in getting him out of 
the hack; once out, he marched with elastic step into 
the hotel. The hackman, gasping for breath after his 
great struggle, stared after Davis, saying, "By G — , I 
should think you was eight men.^' 



June 28, 1906. 
An aged and esteemed minister of the gospel re- 
cently died at Indianapolis. Eeading his obituary in 
the Indianapolis papers, one would be led to believe that 
his highest claim to the love and veneration of posterity 
was his active and incessant efforts to precipitate the 
late civil war upon the country. It therein appears 
that he frequently declared that "war is desirable." 
That a meek and humble follower of the "Prince of 
Peace" should possess so strong a predilection for war is 
certainly anomalous. In a country where conditions 
are perfectly normal and healthy, and forty years after 
the bloody conflict had ended, this sentiment would not 
be regarded worthy of toleration, much less of com- 
mendation. This perverse public sentiment can only 
be accounted for upon the theory that there yet remains 

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in the country a lingering modicum, if no more, of the 
virus of sectional hate. 

APOTHEGMS. 

I learned many years ago that the Novum Organum 
of Lord Bacon was wholly written in apothegms or 
aphorisms. I subsequently read that a copy of this 
philosophical treatise was presented to King James, who, 
after a careful reading of the book, returned the same 
with the comment, "Like the peace of God, it passeth 
all understanding." I have so far succeeded in steering 
clear of the Novum Organum, and must confess to a feel- 
ing of some trepidation in approaching apothegms in 
general. 

We have been induced to believe that the value and 
importance of an apothegm, in public estimation, depend 
in many instances more upon the celebrity and renown 
of its supposed author than upon the intrinsic merit of 
the apothegm itself. The authorship of many of them 
has been ascribed to the user, rather than to the orig- 
inator of the apothegm. To Chamfort, not Talleyrand, 
we are indebted for the terse remark, "Eevolutions are 
not made with rose-water." John Adams declared there 
was nothing original in man but original sin. The real 
author of the saying was the poet Campbell, who, when 
asked to write something original in a lady's album, said 
there was "nothing original in him except original sin." 
Calhoun was many times complimented for being the 
author of the expression "masterly inactivity;" whereas 
Sir James Mackintosh had long before used this "fine 

330 



JOURNAL 

original expression." Cowper took his "God made the 
country and man made the town" from the Latin poet 
Verro; and Webster's "sea of upturned faces" owes its 
origin to Sir Walter Scott. 

The following apothegm has been worn to a frazzle 
in our own day: 

"You may fool some of the people all the time, and 
all of the people some of the time, but you cannot fool 
all the people all the time." Its authorship has been 
generally attributed to Abraham Lincoln. Presidents, 
senators, ministers of the gospel and others, down to 
the red-nosed politician declaiming to his companions 
in the village inn, have iterated and reiterated this 
maxim as originating in the brain of the great president. 
How exceedingly puerile and commonplace it becomes, 
when it is known that its author was not a great states- 
man, but a great showman, one Phineas T. Barnum. It 
seems that Mr. Spofford, the assistant librarian of 
congress, investigated the matter and could find no trace 
of it in any of the speeches, papers, letters or recorded 
sayings of Lincoln. That neither Mr. Hay nor Mr. 
Nicolay, the joint authors of the standard biography of 
Lincoln, knew anything about it. Mr. Spofford's in- 
vestigation led him to conclude that Barnum was the 
author of this much-quoted sentence. 

This apothegm, the origin of which has been so er- 
roneously attributed to the great Lincoln, is in the 
nature and form of what lawyers call a "negative preg- 
nant," the negation of one thing and the affirmance 
of another ; and the negative clause is admirably adapted 
for the peroration of the bucolic politician, whose prin- 

331 



JOUENAL 

cipal stock in trade is to pay obsequious court to the 
people. With uplifted hand^ and his "eye in a fine 
frenzy rolling^^ he may proclaim, with marvelous 
effectiveness and power, "that you cannot fool all the 
people all the time/^ 

garibaldi's supkeme command of the union army. 

In the early part of 1861, the report became current in 
the great capitals of Europe, and was generally believed^ 
that Garibaldi had been invited by the government at 
Washington to take the supreme command of the union 
army. Garibaldi came from Nice and was a child of the 
people, and in early life had acquired an unquenchable 
hatred of despotism. He had gained a reputation 
throughout the world for his dash and brilliancy as a 
military leader, and, on account of his achievements, 
was idolized by those who fought with him. It was said 
"that Mazzini was the prophet. Garibaldi the knight- 
errant, and Cavour the statesman of Italian independ- 
ence." Garibaldi was called the hero of Montevideo, 
on account of the effective aid that he gave the Monte- 
videans against Buenos Ayres. It was he who sent 
the famous telegram, "Complete victory along the en- 
tire line," after he had driven back the royalists in 
disorder to Capua. He died June 2, 1882, having spent 
the latter part of his life at Caprera in his beautiful 
island home. 

Garibaldi addressed a pompous note to the king in 
which he said, "The Americans wish me to take com- 
mand of their armies : does your majesty need me here, 

332 



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or shall I go?" He was given to understand that he 
might go.^^ 

Lord Lytton made a speech in which he declared, 
"We can form some conception of the utter demoraliza- 
tion of the government at Washington, when we see an 
American president so bewildered by his own armies, or 
so despairing of the skill of his o^vn generals, that he of- 
fers to the Italian Garibaldi the command of American 
patriots." Later in the same year, the Confederate com- 
missioners. Mason and Slidell, were seized on board the 
British mail steamer, Trent. Mr. Bigelow, the Amer- 
ican minister at Paris, declared that after this seizure 
one could have counted on his fingers about all the 
people in Europe not Americans who still retained any 
hope or expectation of the perpetuity of the Union. 

The final culmination of the negotiations with Gari- 
baldi was, that our government through Sanford, the 
American minister at Brussels, offered him a major- 
generalship and the payment of the expense of himself 
and his companions. Garibaldi rejected the proposal; 
said he was good for nothing to work under any one 
else — that he must have the supreme command. ^^ 

The effect of Garibaldi's assuming the supreme com- 
mand of the Union army at the beginning of the Civil 
War, opens a wide field for speculation. Would the 
result have been different? 

It is the opinion of Count Tolstoi, a man of world- 
wide fame in literature and thought, that there is no 
such thing as military genius, and he declares that he 

^Bigelow's "Retrospections of An Active Life. 
^ Bigelow's "Retrospections" etc. 

333 



JOUENAL 

has never been able to understand what is meant by the 
term. Being asked how he could account for the amaz- 
ing series of Napoleon's successes he answered, "By- 
circumstances/' He then went on to say that battles 
are won by force of circumstances, by chance, by luck.^^ 
Tolstoi has been declared to be "a man of great genius" 
but it is very doubtful whether this view will be con- 
curred in by any considerable portion of the people, 
either of this or any other country. 

It must be evident to any unprejudicel mind, that to 
have engaged the services of Garibaldi as supreme com- 
mander of the Union armies would have proven disas- 
trous to the Union cause. We have no evidence that he 
excelled as a strategist, and he had only commanded 
small armies. It required something more than "dash 
and brilliancy" to command the great armies of the 
Union during a prolonged war of four years' duration; 
and he would have been no match for the great strate- 
gists of the Confederacy. 

Grant, patient, self-reliant, imperturbable — possessed 
many of the qualities of a great military leader. He was 
asked on one occasion what he considered the most im- 
portant qualification of a military commander. After re- 
flection he replied, "Patience." His own military career 
was a verification of this opinion. Grant's self-reliance 
was one of his most pronounced traits. If necessary he 
was willing to assume grave responsibilities, and he was 
calm and patient under all circumstances, never unduly 
elated by victory nor depressed by defeat. His moral and 
physical courage were unquestioned. His rapidity of 

^ Autobiography of Andrew D. White. 
334 



JOUENAL 

thought and action in the field were as much to his 
credit as his ability to effect extraordinary combina- 
tions and his skill and boldness in moving large armies 
into position. 

RIDICULE. 

To be a complete master of the rhetoric of honest 
indignation is a valuable asset of the orator; but nQ 
kind of power is more formidable than the power of 
making men ridiculous. Pitt was most effective when he 
treasured up in his memory "some detached expression 
of a hostile orator, even an unguarded word, a laugh or 
a cheer, and made it a text for sparkling ridicule or 
burning invective." 

On the 30th of May, 1878, on the occasion of the cele- 
bration of the one hundredth anniversary of the death 
of Voltaire, Victor Hugo declared, "A hundred years 
ago to-day a man died. He died immortal. * * * 
Voltaire declared war against the coalition of all the 
social iniquities. And what was his weapon? That 
which has the lightness of the wind and the power of a 
thunderbolt. A pen." 

When in the mood, Voltaire was past grand-master 
of conciliatory and laudatory speech, and, in writing, 
there were times when his pen seemed to have been 
dipped in manna. In addressing his friends he some- 
times exhibited the most extravagant affection. "My 
dearest friend" is too cold for him. It is "My dear and 
adorable friend;" "My guardian angel." When Frank- 
lin presented his grandson and asked a blessing, "God 
and Liberty," said Voltaire, "is the only one fitting for 

335 



JOUENAL 

Franklin's children." Those two great men met again 
at a public sitting of the French academy. Voltaire 
was all graciousness and urbanity. When they took their 
places side by side and shook hands together a burst of 
applause involuntarily rose from the great assembly.^'* 

But there was another side to Voltaire. He told 
Eousseau, with blunt severity, that the former's "Ode 
to Posterity" would never reach its destination. His 
ruthless sarcasm, when he chose to be sarcastic, was 
merciless and ferocious. It was said^^ that the constitu- 
tion of his mind resembled the constitution of those 
bodies in which the slightest scratch of a bramble, or 
the bite of a gnat, never fails to fester; and Macaulay 
declares "that of all the intellectual weapons which have 
ever been wielded by man, the most terrible was tlic 
mockery of Voltaire. Bigots and tyrants who had never 
been moved by the wailing and cursing of millions, 
turned pale at his name." 

An incident occurred in our own country which 
illustrates the effectiveness — I might say the destructive- 
ness — of ridicule as an intellectual weapon. It was not a 
case where the person against whom the shaft was burled 
was merely overwhelmed with derision and contemptu- 
ous laughter — but it was one resulting in his utter and 
complete political annihilation. Many years ago Isaac 
M. Crary, of Michigan, was a member of congress from 
that state. Before going to congress he had some con- 
nection with the western militia, and had obtained tho 
honorary title of "General." He made a long and tedi- 
ous speech in the house in an attempt to provp that 

^^ Brougham. ^^ Macauley. 

336 



JOUENAL 

William Henry Harrison was a military ignoramus. 
Tom Corwin, the celebrated Ohio orator, rose and began 
an off-hand speech, taking for his subject "The Military 
Services of Isaac M. Crary/' For ridicule and humor 
it has been declared to be the most successful speecli 
ever made in congress. It was long afterwards de- 
claimed in the public schools. "Thurlow Weed, ia his 
article on scenes he had witnessed in congress, referred 
to this event as the most vivid of all. Corwin's delinea- 
tion of Crary's brilliant exploits, his portrayal of the 
valiant charges made by Crary's troops, on muster days, 
upon the watermelon patches of Michigan, not only 
convulsed his audience, but were echoed throughout the 
nation."^ ^ Afterwards, John Quincy Adams in a speech 
referred to the "late General Crary," and by this ap- 
pellation he was subsequently known. 

NORTHERN REVOLUTION" — SOUTHERN REBELLION — THE 
PERPETUITY OF THE REPUBLIC. 

It is altogether probable that the impartial historian 
of the future, when he wishes to characterize the civil 
war in the United States, will call it a NorthcTn revolu- 
tion, rather than a Southern rebellion. 

As a result of that conflict no intelligent person will 
deny that the powers of the central government have 
been changed and immeasurably augmented. This 
fact is indubitably proven, not only by the addition of 
the thirteenth, fourteenth and fifteenth amendments, 
but by the more latitudinarian construction of the consti- 

'^ Andrew D. White. 

337 



JOUENAL 

tution, as it existed before the addition of those amend- 
ments. This change may have the salntar}^ effect of 
prolonging the duration of the government, if it does 
not assure its perpetuity. 

While there has been an added potency given to the 
government by the revolution of 1861, yet the diversity 
of interests between the different states and sections is all 
the time increasing. 

I think that foreigners have been unduly pessimistic 
in discussing the question of the permanency of our in- 
stitutions; and it is possible that we have exhibited an 
undue optimism upon the subject. The opinions of 
eminent men of other countries, renowned for their 
learning and sagacity, are interesting, even though we 
are convinced that those opinions are based upon insuffi- 
cient or inaccurate information, not only in respect to 
our governmental machinery, but also as to the char- 
acters, temperament and disposition of our people. An 
eminent French philosopher and statesman^ ^ who re- 
mained in this country several years studying our gov- 
ernment, its institutions and its laws, as well as the 
manners, customs, temperament and disposition of our 
people, has expressed some very positive opinions on 
this subject. His book was written with a view to 
enlighten European opinion in relation to democratic 
government, and has been translated into many lan- 
guages. It is everywhere regarded as a political classic. 
His style of writing is said to be an imitation of that of 
Montesquieu; however this may be, it certainly has a 
magic charm. He says : 

^^De Tocqueville. 

338 



JOUENAL 

"Whatever faith I may have in the perfectibility of 
man, until human nature is altered, and men wholly 
transformed, I shall refuse to believe in the duration of 
a government which is called upon to hold together 
forty different peoples, disseminated over a territory 
equal to one-half of Europe in extent; to avoid all 
rivahy, ambition, and struggles between them; and to 
direct their independent activity to the accomplishment 
of the same designs/' 

Again he says : "I am of opinion that where there are 
a hundred millions of men, and forty distinct nations 
unequally strong, the continuance of the federal govern- 
ment can only be a fortunate accident/' 

In opposition to this view, an eminent Englishman^ ^ 
declares, that though America is a confederation of re- 
publics, they are in many cases much more amalgamated 
than the various parts of Great Britain, * * * and 
that he regards the United States as "a magnificent 
spectacle of human happiness/' 

Another Englishman,^* especially distinguished for 
his high literary attainments, says : "I honor the Amer- 
ican as the citizen of a grand republic, trying his best to 
accomplish an experiment in government, in which he 
will find the very prosperity he tends to create will 
sooner or later destroy his experiment/' 

Though there is much in present conditions in our 
country to disturb the equanimity of thoughtful minds, 
it is the part of wisdom not to draw drafts on the misery 
of futurity, but "to take short views of the future, to 
hope for the best and trust in God/' 

^ Sydney Smith. ^^ Lord Lytton. 
339 



JOUENAL 



DEMOCRATIC MALADIES. 



I think some of the Democratic leaders have the dis- 
ease of conciliation, bordering on the even more fatal 
malady of obsequiousness. It is the aggressive party that 
wins the election. This accounts, in a large measure, 
for the uniform victories of the Democratic party in 
the Southern states. 

"In peace there is nothing so becomes a man 
As modest stillness and humility: 
But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 
Then imitate the action of the tiger." 

Charge the Eepublican party with everything known to 
the catalogue of crime from the theft of the presidency 
in 1876, down to the peculations, embezzlements, and 
rogueries, in federal, state and county offices. If they 
deny it, prove it on them if you can. Say nothing 
against Abraham Lincoln, for he was a great and good 
man; but avoid all idiotic adulation and rhapsodies 
about him, such for example as, "In all that constitutes 
true greatness, John the Baptist alone is comparable 
with Abraham Lincoln.*' 

If the Democratic orator is in an eulogistic mood, let 
him say a good word for the great men of his own party 
— for Washington, Jefferson, Jackson or Grover Cleve- 
land. In the absence of anything better he might quote 
Jefferson's lofty tribute to Washington: 

"In some future da}^ the most distant star in the 
heavens will bear the name of Washington, and the city 
which he founded will be the capitol of a universal 
republic." 

340 



JOUENAL 

Lincoln was a Eepublican. Democrats should not try 
to steal Republican thunder ; that party is sorely in need 
of all its ancient glory, in order, if possible, to compen- 
sate, in some measure, for its modern excesses. 

PHYSICIANS AND MEDICINE. 

I have the highest respect for the followers of iEscu- 
lapius. A physician who passed away several years ago 
was one of my dearest friends. He was not only skilful 
and conscientious in his profession, but he was above 
criticism in every relation of life. The voice of the 
physician whom you have called to your home, in a case 
•of real sickness, is the most delightful of music ; and the 
relations between him and his patient are of the most 
•sacred and confidential character. 

It is my deliberate opinion, however, formed from 
reading, observation and reflection, that the physician 
is called too often, and that the medicine bottle is 
called into requisition upon too slight provocation. We 
are all a bundle of habits. I may forget and overlook 
other things, but my post-prandial cigar, never. It is 
my habit. 

It is said that the skill of ^sculapius, the god of 
medicine, enabled him to cure the most desperate dis- 
eases, but that moral or dietetic remedies were more 
■often prescribed than drugs. The manner of diagnosis 
was unique. The sick person after ablution, prayer 
and sacrifice, was made to sleep on the hide of the sacri- 
ficed animal, and in his sleep the malady was indicated 
by a dream. Tlie record of the cure was inscribed on 

341 



JOUENAL 

the columns of the temple; and it has been thought 
that in this way was introduced the custom of "record- 
ing cases."^^ 

We read that "To Plato the science of medicine ap- 
peared one of very disputable advantage. He did not 
indeed object to quick cures for acute disorders, or for 
injuries produced by accidents. But the art which re- 
sists the slow sap of a chronic disease, which repair? 
frames enervated by lust, swollen by gluttony, or in- 
flamed by wine, which encourages sensuality, by mitigat- 
ing the natural punishment of the sensualist, and pro- 
longs existence when the intellect has ceased to retain 
its entire energy, had no share of his esteem."^ ^ 

Medicine is not an exact science. Victor Jacquemont, 
the eminent French traveler and naturalist, upon a long 
ocean voyage was greatly shocked by the condition of 
the ship's medical stores. He says there were twenty- 
four drugs, all in confusion, and no scales to weigli 
doses. The system of administering those medicines 
was not regulated by the malady to be combated, but 
by the quantity of drugs in store. A^liatever the ailment, 
the rule was to administer the drug of which the stock 
was greatest. He declares that the sailors had the most 
perfect confidence in this system which seemed to have 
answered admirably. ^'^ 

Count Munster, in a conversation with Ambassador 
Wliite, when the subject of bacteria and microbes was 
casually mentioned, declared that they were "all a m^od- 
ern humbug." It is hardly necessary to add that this 
circumstance would not be reproduced here, if the dis- 

^ 15 E. Britannica. ^'^ Macaulay. ^"^ Hamerton. 
342 



JOUENAL 

tinguished count were within the jurisdiction of the 
Indiana State Board of Health, or could be brought 
within such jurisdiction by extradition or otherwise. 
The count merely gives an opinion, but without a 
reason. It is very evident, however, that one eiTect of 
this modern hue and cry about bacteria and microbes 
is to make the science of medicine more and more 
an esoteric science. 

Montaigne, in one of his essays, has much to say in 
respect to the use of medicine. Of him, it has been 
averred that, take him all in all, no other man of his 
time had read so much or pondered so deeply: and 
Mr. Hallam declares that Montaigne is the first French 
author whom an English gentleman is ashamed not to 
have read. Montaigne, in speaking of another author 
(Tarenco), says: ^'That the beauty and perfection of 
his style makes us lose the appetite for his plot. His 
elegancy and delicacy captivate us in every scene and 
he is pleasant throughout. ^Eunning smoothly, like a 
liquid stream, and so possesses the soul with his graces 
of diction, that we forget those of the fable.' " The 
quaintness and eccentricity of his own style must, of 
necessity, attract attention, apart from the subject-mat- 
ter of the essay. He says : 

"Let the physicians a little excuse the liberty I take; 
for it is by this same infusion and fatal insinuation 
that I have received a hatred and contempt of their 
doctrine. The antipathy I have against their art is 
hereditary to me. My father lived seventy-four years, 
my grandfather sixty-nine, my great-grandfather almost 
four-score years, without tasting any sort of physic: 

343 



JOUENAL 

and with them, whatever was not ordinary diet was 
instead of a drug. Physic is grounded upon experience 
and examples, so is my opinion. * * * I ^o not know 
that they can find me, in all their records, three that 
were born, bred, and died under the same roof who have 
lived so long by their own conduct. * * * It has been 
two hundred years, save eighteen, that this trial has 
lasted in our family; for the first of them was born in 
the year 1402. * * * My ancestors had an aversion to 
physic by some secret and natural instinct; for the very 
sight of a potion was loathsome to my father. * * * 
So in physic I very much honor that glorious name, 
and the end it is studied for, and what it promises to 
the service of mankind; but its prescriptions I neither 
honor nor esteem. In the first place, experience makes 
me dread it; for, amongst all my acquaintance, I see 
no race of people so soon sick, and so long before they 
are well, as those who are slaves to physic. Their very 
health is altered and corrupted by the regimen they are 
constrained to. Physicians are not content to deal only 
with the sick, but they change health into sickness (in 
my opinion instances of this kind are very rare H. H. 
D.), for fear men should at any time escape their author- 
ity. * * * I have been sick often enough, and have, 
without their aid, found my maladies as easy to be sup- 
ported and as short as those of any other, without swal- 
lowing their nauseous doses. * * * j never disturb 
myself that I have no physician, no apothecary, nor any 
other assistance, which I see most men more afflicted 
at than they are with their disease." 



344 



JOURNAL 



FIDELITY TO PRINCIPLE. 



August 4, 1909. 

I have been profoundl}' impressed by the cireumstanee 
that certain of our Democratic statesmen have been vot- 
ing with the Republicans in favor of the "protective 
principle" — a high tariff upon certain commodities. 
God help the statesman who will subordinate a great 
principle to the avarice and cupidity of an insignificant 
number of his own constituents, engaged in a particular 
industry. It was hardly necessary for them to so stultify 
themselves, because without their aid the Republicans, 
"the friends of protection," had an overwhelming ma- 
jority. 

We are here reminded of the declaration of Grattan, 
on a memorable occasion, that there are instances where 
a great majority cannot ultimately prevail ; that a major- 
ity cannot overcome a great principle and that "God 
will guard his own cause against rank majorities." 

"We anticipate, with confidence, that the American 
people will, at the first opportunity, put the seal of their 
reprobation upon this legislation in behalf of the "inter- 
ests" at the expense of the people. 

THE STANDARD OF RESPECTABILITY AND CHARACTER. 

August 5, 1909. 

At breakfast this morning a lady, somewhat advanced 

in years, related an incident of her early life. It was 

this : She and other young ladies were impressed by the 

grace and elegant manners of a young gentleman with 

345 



JOUENAL 

whom they had danced. She afterwards learned that 
he was the son of a candy manufacturer. They felt 
greatly humiliated and almost disgraced. She added 
that the young man had since amassed a large fortune 
and that his name and that of his family were now occa- 
sionally mentioned in the society columns of the news- 
papers of her home city, New Orleans. I ventured to 
inquire if personal worth, refinement and cultivation 
should not be controlling factors under circumstances 
of this nature, to which I received an evasive answer. 

Each community has its own standard for estimating 
the respectability and character of its members. It is 
said that in New England the pursuit of humble occupa- 
tions affects but little the character and social standing 
of the individual; and there are localities in the United 
States where the mere "fatty tumors" of the financial 
world have but little recognition. 

Mr. Howells asserts that in Cambridge, since the 
capitalistic era began, no one is proud of his riches and 
that money counts for little; and that in New York 
money counts for more and goes for less than in any 
other city in the world. 

It appears to me that if we must have a stratification 
of society the ideal standard would be personal worth. 

THE POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY OF THE JUDICIARY. 

In the affairs of our government there is nothing more 
important than to get the right man on the bench. 
Above all things he should be capable, conscientious and 

346 



JOUEXAL 

fearless; he should never "lay his ear to the ground," 
nor listen for the applause of the multitude. He should 
rather have "his ear to the sky." He should scorn the 
idea of settling questions of righteousness by a show 
of hands, or with the view of receiving popular applause. 
This thought was uppermost in the mind of Lord Eldon 
upon the trial of the queen when he said : 

"I take no notice of what is passing out of doors, 
because I am supposed constitutionally not to be ac- 
quainted with it. * * * It is the duty of those upon 
whom a judicial task is imposed to meet reproach, and 
not to court popularity." 

The position of judge is, indeed, one of immeasurable 
power and responsibility; and there are many recorded 
instances where, but for the opportune intervention of 
the court, the verdict of juries would result in flagitious 
wrong and injustice. For example : a jury in Pennsyl- 
vania when Judge Grier was on the bench, brought in a 
very unjust verdict. The judge said : "Mr. Clerk, record 
that verdict, and enter under it "Set aside ;" and turning 
to the jury said, "I will have you to know, gentlemen 
of the jury, that it takes thirteen men in this court to 
steal a man's farm." 

Another instance where a young man discovered a 
drum on the sidewalk near his own home. He carried 
it into the house and played upon it. He was a fine 
young fellow of irreprochable character. The jury very 
reluctantly brought in a verdict of guilty ; "he was con- 
victed as a thief and his life seemed to be blighted and 
ruined past hope." The judge (Peters, of Maine) said: 

347 



JOURNAL 

"Mr. Clerk, you may record the verdict. I may as well 
sentence him now. I shall fine him one cent, without 
costs. I once stole a drum myself. ^^^^ 

TPIE IDEAL SOUTHERN" GENTLEMAN". 

As to what constitutes a gentleman depends somewhat 
on the locality, the environment, and the customs of the 
particular community. There are many requisites which 
are, in some measure, determined by caprice. Some one 
has said that a gentleman should know how to lend a 
book, how to ask after a relation, and how to pass a 
compliment. We all know that the word gentleman is 
sometimes wofully misapplied. A man was convicted 
of murder, the circumstances attending the homicide 
being characterized by unusual atrocity. The judge was 
exquisitely and ridiculously polite when addressing the 
prisoner. He said: "Will the gentleman be so kind as 
to stand up and receive his sentence ?'' 

The pretentious fellow, the pseudo gentleman, is 
justly an object of animadversion and ridicule. 

The ideal Southern gentleman of our day is admirably 
described by Senator Williams, of Mississippi: 

"The ideal gentleman was always honest; spoke the 
truth ; faced his enemy ; fought him, if necessary ; never 
quarreled with him nor talked about him; rode well; 
shot well; used chaste and correct English; insulted no 
man — bore no insult from any; was studiously kind to 
his inferiors, especially to his slaves; cordial and hos- 
pitable to his equals; courteous to his superiors, if he 

2^ Autobiography of Seventy Years — Senator Hoar. 
348 



JOUENAL 

acknowledged any; he scorned a demagogue, but loved 
his people." 

THE ORIGIN OF CARDS. 



I venture the assertion that many of even the most 
ardent and enthusiastic devotees of the game, are not 
advised of the origin of cards. It seems that they were 
invented for the amusement of an insane king. They 
were resorted to during the intervals of his mental 
disorder but were ignored and spurned by him during 
his lucid intervals. This unfortunate ruler was Charles 
VI. It is said that the cards served admirably the pur- 
pose of diverting his royal melancholy. 

"The alleged origin of the invention of cards," said 
Sir Walter Scott, "produced one of the shrewdest re- 
plies I have ever heard given in evidence. It was made 
by the late Dr. Gregory, of Edinburgh, to a counsel of 
great eminence at the Scottish bar. The doctor's testi- 
mony went to prove the insanity of the party whose 
mental capacity was the point at issue. On a cross- 
interrogation he admitted that the person in question 
played admirably at whist. ^And do you seriously say, 
Doctor,' said the learned counsel, 'that a person having 
a superior capacity for a game so difficult, and which 
requires in a pre-eminent degree, memory, judgment 
and combination, can be at the same time deranged in 
his understanding?' 

" 'I am no card player,' said the doctor, with great 
address, 'but I have read in history that cards were in- 

349 



JOUENAL 

vented for the amusement of an insane king.' The con- 
sequences of this reply were decisive."^ ^ 

THE TOLLING OP THE DINNER BELL. 

It was an admirable conceit of the old Scotch butler 
to toll the dinner bell when the cheer which he had 
provided was defective in quantity or poor in quality. 
His master was thus notified, in advance, of the meager- 
ness of the meal. To a hungry man, especially if he 
have a keen appreciation of the pleasures of the table, 
information of this kind is of so grave and serious a 
character that it should be communicated to the victim 
in as gentle and soothing a manner as circumstances 
will permit. A moment's time is often sufficient to beget 
a feeling of at least partial resignation. The interval 
between the strokes of the bell might be greater or less, 
according to the degree of scantiness or turpitude of the 
meal which had been provided. Would it not be well to 
inaugurate a movement in favor of the universal adop- 
tion of this admirable device? 

BURKE HIS SYMPATHY WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 

To me, the compositions of Burke, even when the sub- 
ject-matter is no longer of vital interest, are enchanting, 
on acount of his exquisite and copious diction and the 
completed roundness of his periods. He was renowned 
not only for the amplitude of his understanding but for 
the exuberance of his imagination. His style has been 

^^Vol. 16 of Scott's Works, note 17. 
350 



JOUENAL 

characterized as the most powerful, the most dazzling, 
the most daring. "It has the solidity and sparkling 
effect of the diamond," says one. * * * <^He rises 
with the lofty, descends with the mean, luxuriates in 
beauty, gloats over deformity." And what a stanch 
friend of the colonies ! Read what he says. Referring to 
our Revolutionary War, he declares : 

"War is at present carried on between the king's nat- 
ural and foreign troops on one side and the English in 
America on the other upon the usual footing of other 
wars. 

"Whilst the liberal government of this free nation 
(England) is supported by the hireling sword of Ger- 
man boors and vassals ; and three millions of the subjects 
of Great Britain are seeking for protection to English 
privileges in the arms of France ! 

"I cannot rejoice that they (the colonists) have 
fallen under the sword of strangers, whose barbarous 
appellations I scarcely know how to pronounce. * * * 
And I fairly acknowledge that I have not yet learned to 
delight in finding Fort Kniphausen in the heart of the 
British dominions. 

"As yet they, and their German allies of twenty hire- 
ling states, have contended only with the unprepared 
strength of our own infant colonies. But America is 
not subdued. Not one unattacked village has yet sub- 
mitted from love or terror. You have the ground you 
encamp on ; and you have no more. * * * You spread 
devastation, but you do not enlarge the sphere of au- 
thority." 



351 



JOUENAL 

In his address to George III on the American war, 
Burke boldly declares: 

"To excite, by a proclamation issued by your majesty's 
government, an universal insurrection of negro slaves 
in any of the colonies is a measure full of complicated 
horrors, absolutely illegal, suitable neither to the prac- 
tise of war nor to the laws of peace." 

In his address to the British Colonists in North Amer- 
ica, he recites : 

"We likewise saw with shame the African slaves, who 
had been sold to you on public faith, and under the sanc- 
tions of acts of Parliament, to be your servants and your 
guards, employed to cut the throats of their masters." *° 

JOHN G. CARLISLE. 

It has always seemed to me that the duties of the 
speaker of the National House of Eepresentatives were 
of a quasi judicial nature, and that it is a monstrous in- 
congruity when he acts as the head of a party instead of 
being perfectly impartial. Mr. Carlisle was an ideal 
speaker, and I think that the country has failed to show 
an adequate appreciation of his splendid intellectuality, 
and his fairness and nonpartisan administration of the 
duties of the great office. The powers of the speaker are 
prodigious; and, it is an axiomatic truth, that the best 
test of real greatness is for one to be invested with extra- 
ordinary power, without abusing it. 

*'^It is a cause of deep humiliation and shame when we 
reflect that, within less than a century after Burke's de- 
nunciation of these atrocities, there was a considerable 
portion of our own countrymen who not only tolerated but 
commended them. 

352 



JOUENAL 

Ambassador White visited the House while Mr. Car- 
lisle was speaker. Sitting by a member who was an ar- 
dent Eepublican, Mr. White inquired how he liked the 
speaker and received this reply: "Mr. Carlisle is as 
intense in his Democracy as I am in my Eepublicanism, 
but no one can conceive of circumstances which could in- 
duce him to render a partial or partizan decision." 

The late Senator Frye was then a member of the 
House. One day a Democratic representative impugned 
the fairness of a ruling made by Speaker Carlisle. It 
was said that Frye was out of his seat in an instant, his 
eyes flashing and his right arm in air. 

"The imputation is unworthy/' he cried. "On this 
side of the house" — with a sweeping gesture toward his 
fellow Eepublicans — "we consider the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Carlisle) the jewel of the Democratic 
party !" 

It is related that the effect was electric. The great 
body of Democrats joined with the Eepublicans, in 
drowning the generous outburst with cheers, and the 
speaker's accuser was driven from the floor in discom- 
fiture. 

HENRY CLAY ON THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY. 

I have recently read a speech of Henry Clay on the 
abolition of slavery. It was of course delivered prior to 
the war between the states, and it was at a period when 
congress was being flooded with petitions praying for the 
abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. It is 
interesting as a bit of ancient history, and on account of 

353 



JOUENAL 

the illustrious career of the great statesman who delivered 
it, I quote: 

"I prefer the liberty of my own country to that of any 
other people; and the liberty of my own race to that of 
any other race. The liberty of the descendants of Africa 
in the United States is incompatible with the safety 
and liberty of the European descendants. Their slavery 
forms an exception — an exception resulting from a stern 
and inexorable necessity — to the general liberty in the 
United States. We did not originate, nor are responsible 
for this necessity. * * * 

"I beseech the Abolitionists themselves solemnly to 
pause in their mad and fatal course. Amid that infinite 
variety of the objects of humanity and benevolence which 
invite the employment of their energies let them select 
some one more harmless, that does not threaten to deluge 
our country in blood. I call upon that small portion of 
the clergy which has lent itself to those wild and ruinous 
schemes, not to forget the holy nature of the divine mis- 
sion of the Founder of our religion, and to profit by his 
peaceful example. I entreat that portion of my country- 
women who have given their countenance to abolition, to 
remember that they are ever most loved and honored 
wlien moving in their own appropriate and delightful 
sphere; and to reflect that the ink which they shed in 
subscribing with their fair hands abolition petitions, may 
prove but the prelude to the shedding of the blood of 
their brethren." 

It must be confessed that Mr. Clay's prophetic utter- 
ance as to the shedding of the "blood of their brethren" 
was amply verified by subsequent events. 

354 



JOURNAL 

PROSPERITY AND ADVERSITY. 

When quite 3'Oung I read in Plutarch that it was more 
difficult to endure prosperity than adversity. I then re- 
garded it as one of the many wise saws that genius iias 
given to the world that would not bear close scrutiny and 
investigation. It was for a long time associated in my 
mind with that other wise saying that it was easier to 
pay a large debt than a small one. However, reading, 
observation and reflection have convinced me that Plu- 
tarch's observation is true. 

It has been said, truly, I believe, that prosperity tries 
the human heart with more powerful temptation — that 
we struggle with adversity, but success undermines our 
principles. Misfortune is a severe teacher and in many 
people develops virtues, though Balzac insists that it 
only does so in virtuous people. Gladstone declared that 
it is only by cruel suffering that nations are sometimes 
born to a bettcT life, and that so it is with individual 
man. That adversity is the greatest of all teachers will 
not be denied. 

We recall the lines of the dramatic bard: 

"Sweet are the uses of adversity: 
Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, 
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head." 

Petrarch is regarded as one of the greatest names of 
modern Europe. Mr. Knight observes that "his eminent 
services to mankind as one of the restorers of learning, 
exhibit the union, which pertains to the highest intel- 

355 



JOURNAL 

lects alone^ of the imaginative with the practical." Pe- 
trarch had strong convictions upon the subject under con- 
sideration. After reciting that the vulgar, and eyen 
some philosophers, have decided that adverse fortune 
was most difficult to sustain, he says : "For my own part, 
I am of a different opinion, and believe it more easy to 
support adversity than prosperity; and that fortune is 
more treacherous and dangerous when she caresses than 
when she dismays. Experience has taught me this, not 
books or arguments." 

It is not a matter of surprise when Pascal declares, 
that there is no more perilous ordeal through whicli 
man can pass — no greater curse which can be imposed on 
him, as he is at present constituted — than that of being 
condemned to walk his life long in the sunlight of un- 
shaded prosperity. 



:^56 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY. 

I have been urged to append to this volume a sketch 
of my own life. It was no part of my original purpose 
to do so, but the request emanates from a source which 
renders it equivalent to a command. 

That the book is primarily intended for the perusal of 
my numerous relations, especially those of the younger 
generation from whom an account of the vicissitudes of 
life I have long been separated, is an additional reason 
for appending this sketch. 

The author is a native of Owingsville, the county seat 
of Bath county, Kentucky. The town is located on a 
high hill five miles from Preston, a station on the 
Chesapeake & Ohio railway. The most indifferent trav- 
eler cannot fail to be impressed by the beauty of the 
drive from the town to the station — with the regular al- 
ternation of hill and dale. Having arrived in the town, 
the view from its streets, of hills and valleys, and culti- 
vated farms, is one of marvelous beauty. John C. Breck- 
enridge, who had traveled in many lands, and who, after 
the fall of the Confederacy, selected southern France as 
his temporary abode on account of its resemblance to 
his beloved central Kentucky, dilated with much enthu- 
siasm upon the exquisite beauty of this landscape. 
Though the population of the town is less than two 
thousand, it has furnished to Indiana two of her illus- 

359 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

trious Governors, Henry S. Lane and Claude Matthews. 
The birthplace and home of the famous Confederate 
general, John B. Hood, situated on its principal street, 
is still intact. 

The little town is not devoid of historic interest. IN'ear 
the beginning of the last century the original proprietor. 
Colonel Thomas Dye Owings, for whom the town was 
named, erected an immense mansion of brick and stone, 
much of the material for the structure having been 
hauled overland from Baltimore. At the back end of the 
great wide hall is a circular stairway running to the 
third floor, of easy ascent, with low broad steps, and 
with balustrades of mahogany, hand carved. In the 
front hall is a large open fireplace behind which is a 
secret stairway leading to a subterranean passage. The 
immense thickness of the walls, and its private stair- 
ways and subterranean passages would indicate that the 
superstructure was originally intended for purposes of 
war rather than as the peaceful abode of man. 

In the mansion Colonel Owings entertained for a con- 
siderable period, Louis-Philippe, the lineal descendant 
of a younger brother of the great French monarch, 
Louis XIV. In his own country, Louis had been pro- 
scribed along with Demouriez, and entered upon a period 
of twenty-one years of exile from France, beginning in 
1793 and ending with his return to Paris in 1814:. The 
time was spent partly in Switzerland and other Euro- 
pean countries, partly in the Spanish- American colonies 
and partly in the United States. His sojourn with 
Colonel Owings was of long duration. Subsequently, 
in 1830, he ascended the throne of France. 

360 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

This historic mansion is now used as a hotel with busi- 
ness rooms on the lower floor. The barber shop, which 
I patronized during a recent visit there, was one of the 
suite of rooms occupied by the distinguished French 
exile. 

The county derived its name from the numerous min- 
eral springs within its limits. The Olympian springs, 
eight miles south of Owingsville, was frequented by 
Mr. Clay when he was not engaged in the discharge of 
his arduous duties in Washington. The county has a 
diversified surface, gently undulating, hilly and moun- 
tainous. It has been said that there are certain finely 
strung and sensitive natures whose spirits are affected 
not only by the climate, but by the scenery amid which 
they live. In this historic old county of Bath will be 
found the hills and the mountains in close juxtaposition ; 
the latter to exercise a purifying influence upon one's 
feelings, the former to calm and tranquilize one's mind. 
Many of the world's celebrities have sincerely preferred 
wild nature to a cultivated garden ; an individual of this 
temperament and with such predilections would be de- 
lighted with certain portions of the county. We recall 
that Herbert Spencer, who was by many supposed to be 
devoid of esthetic perception, affirmed that the sight of 
a mountain and music heard in a cathedral were two 
of the things that moved him most. 

Too much cannot be said in commendation of the in- 
habitants of this county. In general, they not only 
love their homes but also their fields, their forests, and 
all inanimate objects about them ; they have a chivalrous 
respect for women ; they are hospitable, kindly and cour- 

361 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

teous, but not deficient in courage; they have a delicate 
sense of honor ; covetousness, corruption, the low tempta- 
tion of money, have not yet found any place in their 
politics; they have never pushed thrift to the loathsome 
excess of an inhuman avarice ; and you will look in vain 
for the miser whose eyes have the yellow metallic glitter 
of the coin over which he broods. 

At the time of which I write the county court in Ken- 
tucky convened once each month; in our county on the 
first Mondays. The court had exclusive probate juris- 
diction and, in addition, exercised the powers which in 
Indiana are vested in the board of county commission- 
ers. The clerk of this court was also authorized by law 
to take acknowledgement of deeds, mortgages, and other 
instruments of writing. Notaries public were then un- 
known in that section. When I was eleven years old I 
became deputy clerk of this court and, upon a recent 
visit to the county, I called at the clerk's office and exam- 
ined deed record 58, which was written by me, and 
made the discovery that my handwriting at that time 
was fairly good, however much it may have since de- 
teriorated. When the acknowledgement of a deed was 
to be taken outside of the office it usually devolved upon 
me to attend to the business. I have a vivid recollec- 
tion of one of my first official acts of this kind. It was 
in the country. The law then required that the wife 
should be examined separate and apart from the hus- 
band in order to learn for a certainty whether she ex- 
ecuted the paper of her own free will and accord, and 
without any coercion or compulsion of her husband. 
After the husband and wife had signed the paper I 

362 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

asked the husband to step outside. He turned to me 
and with a very serious expression of countenance he 
said something like this : "I have been affronted several 
times in my life but this is the first time that I have 
been ordered out of my own house." Silence reigned 
for a moment, for it really seemed to me that the gen- 
tleman had some ground for his indignation, but I had 
received strict orders and explicit instructions as to my 
duties, and finally mustered up courage to say to him: 
"I am very sorry, but you will have to go." The serious 
.aspect of his countenance at once gave way to a com- 
placent smile and he bowed himself out. I then pro- 
ceeded to propound the prescribed questions to the wife 
who, from her manner and countenance, must have de- 
rived considerable amusement from the incident. 

At the age of thirteen I was promoted to the deputy 
clerkship of the circuit court. This court had the same 
jurisdiction as our circuit court in Indiana. When court 
was in session it was my duty to be constantly by the 
side of the clerk in the courtroom to render him any 
assistance possible. In the light of my subsequent ex- 
perience and observation I am prepared to say that the 
local bar was of more than ordinary ability, and many 
able lawyers from other counties practised in our court, 
some of them afterwards attaining high distinction in 
the profession. The late Solomon Claypool told me many 
3^ears ago in a conversation had in the courtroom at 
Shelbyville, that he had been called to Owingsville as 
counsel in an important will case and that one of the 
opposing counsel was one of the most brilliant and able 
lawyers he had ever met. The lawyers traveled from 

363 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

county to county after the manner of the members of 
the Irish bar — usually on horseback. The brilliant 
Shiel with much pride and satisfaction declared in the 
first sentence of one of the chapters of his book: "I 
am an Irish barrister and go to the Leinster circuit." 

Very soon after I became deputy clerk of the circuit 
court and when I was in my fourteenth year, Mr. Tur- 
ner, the clerk, sent me on a business errand to Ashland, 
the home of Henry Clay, near Lexington. The distance 
was fifty miles — a long ride on horseback, and it was 
the longest and most important journey I had made 
alone up to that time. My steed was known throughout 
the community as "Travey Daniels' big mule." It was 
immense in its proportions, being more than eighteen 
hands high. Along the public road and in every town 
and hamlet through which I passed, the big mule was 
the cynosure of all eyes, and the boy rider was so com- 
pletely ignored that he almost became jealous of the 
mule. It was when I was passing through one of the 
main streets of the little city of Mt. Sterling that my 
animal decided, presumably after mature deliberation, 
that he would proceed no farther, for the present at 
least, rinally, a very considerable portion of the pop- 
ulation, young and old, turned out and with boards and 
sticks and other instruments of torture, pounded him 
until they became exhausted but he did not budge an 
inch. Finally, after the pounding had ceased, and a 
sufficient period had elapsed to convince the audience 
that he had not been intimidated, my animal proceeded 
on his journey. In other words, he started when he got 
ready and not before. 

364 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

I arrived at Lexington late that evening, stopped at 
the Phoenix Hotel over night and very early in the 
morning rode out to Ashland. The home was occupied 
by the descendants or relatives of Mr. Clay, who died 
only a few years before. Breakfast was about over but 
the family insisted, and would not take ''no'' for an 
answer, that I must eat my breakfast there. I did so. 
After the purpose of my errand had been accomplished 
and I was about starting on my return journey, I was 
impressed by the kind solicitude of the ladies of ihe 
household as to my comfort on my long ride, the morn- 
ing being quite cool. 

Young as I then was I appreciated the fact that 
I was on consecrated ground; but of course I was not 
then familiar with the career of the great pacificator 
— how he, as a senator from Kentucky, a state situated 
midway in the union, had sought to obliterate sectional 
animosities and bring the sections together in bonds of 
amity and peace. I did not then know of the great 
statesmanlike measure he proposed, that would have 
accomplished the double purpose of extinguishing 
slavery and averting civil war, and which met with the 
bitter opposition of the extreme Abolition agitators — 
an opposition based solely upon a flimsy and hypo- 
critical subterfuge. As a mere child, of course I was 
not familiar with the plan that he offered, which was 
this: to buy the slaves newly born until finally, by ex- 
tinction of the older ones by death and the freeing of 
the younger ones by purchase, slavery would disappear. 
The estimated cost of carrying out this plan was twent}^- 
five million dollars — while the civil war cost one million 

365 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

lives and ten thousand millions of dollars. Of course 
I was not then familiar with his earnest and patriotic 
adjuration to his brother senators to support his meas- 
ure of pacification, when he assured them that if they 
would adopt it, and tranquilize the country, he would 
go home to Ashland and renounce public service for 
ever — that he would there find amidst his flocks and 
herds and in the bosom of his family, sincerity and 
truth, attachment and fidelity, that he had not always 
found in the walks of public life. 

Resuming the account of my journey — I reached 
Mt. Sterling late that evening and remained over night 
at the hotel. As I had only fourteen miles to go I 
was not very early in starting next morning. Acci- 
dentally I had for my traveling companion an eminent 
lawyer who was going to the Owingsville court. He 
had already attained eminence in his profession, and 
afterwards became chief justice of the Court of Appeals, 
the highest tribunal in the state. 

I have always had grave doubts of the wisdom and 
propriety of telling a joke on oneself, but I cannot 
refrain from relating an incident of this fourteen-mile 
journey that is still fresh in my memory. The distin- 
guished gentleman and myself rode leisurely along, side 
by side, but of course my companion did most of the 
talking. I knew who he was, as he had frequently at- 
tended our court. His conversation and his charm of 
manner could not fail to impress a boy of fourteen. 
In the course of our talk he said to me that he had 
observed my activity in the courtroom and the efficient 

366 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

aid I had rendered the clerk — in short, that he had a 
favorable impression of me. He inquired my age and 
I told him I was just fourteen. He said he had a 
daughter just one year younger than myself of whom 
he was very proud, and proceeded in the most delight- 
ful way to enumerate her attractions — her charm of 
manner, her exquisite beauty, her proficiency in her 
studies and many other things of a commendatory 
nature. 

Before the end of our journey he indicated to me very 
clearly that he would be willing, when the proper time 
arrived, that his daughter should become my wife. I 
do not remember what I said, but I do remember that 
even at that early age of fourteen I was overwhelmed 
with delight that so distinguished a gentleman should 
express a willingness that his charming daughter might 
some day become my bride. I had never seen her, but 
felt sure she must be fascinating. I at once became 
saturated with a great wave of tranquillity and joy, and 
felt that I was at peace with all the world "and the rest 
of mankind." 

On the following day, while we were sitting at our 
desks during a brief cessation of the business of the 
court, Mr. Turner, the clerk, remarked to me: "So 

Mr. ," referring to my traveling companion of 

the day previous, "promised you his daughter yester- 
day." I did not deign to reply, for I was amazed that 
a matter of so delicate a nature should so soon reach the 
public ear. The clerk, who was a most genial gentle- 
man and excessively fond of fun, broke forth in a per- 

367 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

feet gale of laughter. When his hilarity had subsided 

he turned to me and said seriously, "My son, Mr, 

has no children." 

We find unique characters in almost every com- 
munity, and our county was no exception. Being my- 
self of a pacific disposition and temperament, it is 
difficult for me to conceive how any man could have a 
natural and inherent fondness for fighting; however, we 
had such an one in our county. On county court days 
and other public occasions he was usually in evidence on 
the streets of Owingsville. He was about the medium 
height and compactly built, and his placid and benevo- 
lent expression of countenance would indicate that he 
was either a minister of the gospel or a philanthropist 
bent on doing good to human kind. He was agreeable 
and affable, and his voice and manner suggested a 
serene mind and happy disposition. The earmarks of 
the ruffian were nowhere to be seen. But the observer 
was not long in finding out*when this gentle individual 
was on the warpath. Passing through the crowd, hat 
in hand, occasionally bowing, first to the right and then 
to the left, and continually uttering these words : 
"Gentlemen, it is an invariable rule of my life to give 
no insults and take none." Before he finished his 
tour the fight was on, sometimes ending in victory, 
sometimes in discomfiture. It would seem that the 
principle, usually referred to the age of chivalry, that 
sin loses half its evil by losing all its grossness, would 
have some application here. 

I will relate one other incident along this line. It 
was the case of a man well advanced in years. He had 

368 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

borne a great reputation as a fighter, but for several 
years had been a quiet and law-abiding citizen and 
respected by his neighbors. When he came to town and 
was in a reminiscent mood he never lacked for auditors. 
He said that at one time he had a grudge against a 
man who had moved from Bath to the adjoining county 
of Nicholas, and having business in the latter county 
he decided that while there he would look for his enemy 
and whip him. He discovered him one day in the town 
of Carlisle, the county seat, conversing with some men 
on the street corner. The old man said that he ap- 
proached and, having first asked the pardon of the 
other men for the interruption, he soundly abused and 
denounced his ancient enemy, who made no reply but 
walked away leisurely, stopping at the end of the next 
block. Not to be thwarted in his purpose, the old man 
said that he followed the object of his wrath and re- 
peated his abuse and denunciation. His enemy again 
moved on and stopped at another corner. He again 
followed, having in the meantime thought of some ad- 
ditional ugly things to say, and literally poured out the 
vials of his wrath, but his enemy made no reply. "I 
finally filliped him on the nose with my finger," said 
the old man. At this point he artfully paused in his 
narrative. We were all intensely interested but said 
nothing. At last he resumed, saying, "I was uncon- 
scious twelve hours and in bed for thirty days." I 
note this incident as an additional illustration and 
confirmation of the great truth that there are times 
when forbearance ceases to be a virtue. 

Major John C. Mason for a number of years repre- 
369 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

sented our district, the ninth, in congress. He had 
served with distinction in the Mexican war and was a 
man of striking personality. He was tall with square 
shoulders, well-proportioned, straight as an arrow, a 
Roman cast of features with a military aspect and 
bearing. He was not a highly educated man and was 
not endowed with great oratorical powers, but he had 
great force of character and an indomitable will — was 
thoroughly familiar with the political issues of that day 
and was most formidable in debate. Our congressional 
district was composed of a dozen or more counties and 
Major Mason was a resident of our county. If I am 
not mistaken, Mrs, Mason was a daughter of Colonel 
Thomas Dye Owings, to whom I have already referred. 

In the summer of 1858, Major Mason, without 
solicitation on my part, or on the part of my friends, 
so far as I know, tendered me the appointment to the 
Naval academy at Annapolis from our district. I ac- 
cepted the appointment, but with some trepidation, as 
a friend of mine, whose capabilities I conceived to be 
at least equal to my own, had just failed to pass his 
examination for admission to West Point. Accompany- 
ing my appointment was a printed list of defects and 
disabilities, any one of which would warrant the rejec- 
tion of the appointee. The list was of almost intermi- 
nable length and I was not at all surprised to learn 
that each year a large proportion of the appointees were 
rejected on their physical examinations. 

Fortunately, I passed both examinations, physical 
and academic. I entered the institution in September; 
Admiral Dewey had graduated the preceding June; 

370 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

Admirals Schley and Watson and Philip had been there 
two years, and Admiral Sampson one year. Admiral 
Terry, who recently died, entered the institution when 
I did. 

Would like to say here, lest I forget it, that I have 
always entertained the opinion that the President of 
the United States should appoint an able and experi- 
enced naval officer as secretary of the navy. He would 
best know the needs of the service and the means of 
attaining the highest degree of efficiency. A landsman, 
whatever his capabilities may be in other directions, 
when appointed to this position, has everything to 
learn. He is ignorant even of matters of smallest detail 
and will at times necessarily become an object of com- 
miseration. 

It will be remembered that Eichard W. Thompson, 
of Indiana, was appointed by President Hayes Secretary 
of the Navy. It was said of Thompson, truly, no doubt, 
tliat he was a very interesting character, a man of great 
common sense, public spirit, with a wonderful memory, 
and a rare fund of knowledge of the political history of 
the Northwest. But who will assert that his appointment 
to this high and responsible position was conducive to 
the best interests of the service. 

Senator Hoar relates that at Secretary Sherman's 
dinner he asked Secretary Thompson across the table 
to which mast of a man-of-war the American flag should 
be attached. That Thompson coughed and stammered 
a little and said, "I think I shall refer that question to 
the attorney-general." 

The appointment of a merchant or a doctor to the 
371 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

supreme bench would be no more incongruous and in- 
appropriate than the appointment of a politician to be 
secretary of the navy. 

This condition is no doubt owing in a great measure 
to the importunate demands of the politicians. They 
are not content even with the sun, moon and stars, and 
the whole planetary system, but they want everything 
that is in heaven above, in the earth beneath and in the 
water under the earth. 

When I was at the academy Captain George S. Blake 
was the superintendent, and Commander Thomas T. 
Cravens was commandant of midshipmen. The other 
officers were Lieutenant (afterwards Admiral) Wyman, 
Lieutenants Wood, Davidson, Simpson McGunnigle 
and Waddell — and others. 

In June of the next year, 1859, our class and the 
first class, one hundred and seven of us in all, made 
our cruise for practice in the United States sloop of 
war Plymouth, twenty-two guns — visiting England, 
France, Spain and the island of Madeira. Captain 
Cravens was in command of our ship, and among our 
other officers were Wyman, Wood, McGunnigle and 
Waddell. On our return we reached Hampton Roads 
about September 20th. We were twenty-eight days in 
making the cruise from the capes of Virginia to 
Plymouth, England, a long period indeed, when com- 
pared with the time now made by our steamers. 

On the fourth of July we boarded a French fishing 
vessel off the banks of ISTewfoundland and bought some 
fresh fish. The Frenchman was alarmed when he ob- 
served the formidable and belligerent appearance of our 

372 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

vessel, thinking that war had been decLared and that our 
visit was hostile in its nature rather than commercia]. 

The recent Titanic disaster recalls to my mind the 
vigilance and care exercised in taking the temperature 
of the water. Fortunately, we encountered no iceberg 
and did not even see any floating ice, but the fog was 
dense. When we consider the delightful climate of 
Newfoundland, it is difficult to realize that its coast 
is a perpetual menace to navigation. The climate is 
more temperate than that of most portions of the 
neighboring continent. It is rarely, and then only for 
a few hours, that the thermometer sinks below zero in 
the winter, while the summer range rarely exceeds 80° 
Fahrenheit, and for the most part does not rise above 
70°. For eight years the maximum at St. John's was 
83° and the minimum 7°. Tornadoes are unknown and 
thunder-storms are very rare. 

The existence of icebergs in this vicinity is accounted 
for by the fact that the banks of Newfoundland are 
swept by the cold Labrador current and the icebergs 
are frequently stranded upon them. The gulf stream, 
while it modifies the cold, creates fogs ; the latter, how- 
ever, are confined to the shores and bays of the south- 
eastern and southern coasts. 

After twenty-eight days at sea we were supremely 
happy when we arrived at Plymouth. Our provender 
on the voyage had not been of the daintiest and most 
luxurious character, and we were enabled to realize our 
fond anticipations of ham and eggs and other delicacies. 
Fourteen miles off Plymouth, at Eddystone Rocks, we 
passed the liistoric Eddystone Lighthouse, which was 

373 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

constructed more than two centuries ago. Being fully 
exposed to the southwestern seas and winds the buflet- 
ings of the winds and waves are terriffic, and the fre- 
quent damage by storms has necessitated the rebuliding 
of the lighthouse a number of times. For several years 
prior to 1878 its safety had been a matter of anxiety 
and watchful care, owing to the great tremor of the 
building with each wave stroke. In 1882 a new tower 
was completed. 

We also passed Mount Edgecumbe, the estate of the 
Earl of Edgecumbe. Its beautiful grounds and wooded 
slopes are still fresh in my memory. 

We learned that Plymouth, with a population of 
about sixty-five thousand, held a leading position in the 
country as a naval station; and it was from this port 
that the Pilgrim fathers sailed for America. 

We went ashore and visited the city in squads of a 
dozen or more at a time — dressed in our uniforms, of 
course — and in passing through the streets we learned 
that the custom of squads of men congregating on 
street corners for observation and social conversation 
is not exclusively American. I distinctly remember 
hearing one man say to his associates, referring to us, 
"They must be Austrians." 

After remaining in Plymouth about ten days we 
crossed the English Channel to Brest, France, which 
then had a population of about sixty thousand. This 
city is also a great naval station. At the time of our 
visit it possessed comparatively few buildings of im- 
portance with the exception of those connected with 
the great naval establishment. One of the most pleas- 

374 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

ing incidents of our week's sojourn in Brest was our 
meeting a number of French midshipmen. As a rule, 
they were handsome and accomplished, and their man- 
ners fascinating. 

Leaving Brest, our next destination was Cadiz, Spain. 

In 1809 Lord Byron wrote to his mother: "Cadiz, 
sweet Cadiz! — it is the first spot in the creation. The 
beauty of its streets and mansions is only excelled by 
the loveliness of its inhabitants. It is a complete 
Cythera, full of the finest women in Spain; the Cadiz 
belles being the Lancashire witches of their land. " 

The character and purpose of our visit, and its brev- 
ity, of course precluded the possibility of verifying the 
truth of the foregoing rhapsody. 

To reach Cadiz we must encounter the inhospitable 
and turbulent Bay of Biscay. I have read of a voyage 
where the writer declared: "The coast was rocky, the 
night was dark, and the Bay of Biscay ran high." We 
had a like experience. This vast gulf or bay is enclosed 
by the northern coast of Spain and the western coast 
of France. In the Spanish portion the water is about 
two hundred fathoms deep, while in the French portion 
it is only about twenty. The strong westerly winds 
uniformly impede navigation. 

AYe had a regular ship's crew and the midshipmen 
were divided into four watches. Our watch went on 
deck at four in the morning. We found Captain 
Cravens on deck, a very unusual thing, as he appears 
there only in times of emergency. The storm was still 
raging furiously but had abated somewhat and at that 
hour we were returning to Brest for repairs. The 

375 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

bobstays of the ship had been carried away or parted 
and perhaps some other damage was done. The bob- 
stays are chains to confine the bowsprit of a ship down- 
wards to the stem or cutwater. We remained in 
Brest two or three days and again sailed for Cadiz, 
which we reached without any mishap. 

The population of Cadiz at that time was about sev- 
enty thousand. Seen from a distance oif the coast it 
presented a magnificent display of snowwhite turrets 
rising magnificently from the sea; and from the uni- 
formity and elegance of its buildings it ranked as one 
of the finest cities of Spain. It is required that every 
house in the city shall annually receive a coating of 
whitewash. 

The most characteristic feature of Cadiz is the 
marine promenades, fringing the city all round between 
the ramparts and the sea, especially that called the 
Almeda. 

Some conception may be had of the mildness and 
serenity of the climate, when it is considered that the 
mean annual temperature is 64° Fahrenheit, while the 
mean summer and winter temperatures vary only about 
10° above and below that point. 

We remained in Cadiz about ten days and then set sail 
for Funchal, the capital of the Madeiras. This archi- 
pelago is a group of islands in the North Atlantic nrtean 
belonging to Portugal, consisting of two inhabited 
islands named Madeira and Port Santo, and three unin- 
habited rocks, named collectively the Desertas. 

Madeira, the largest island, has a length of thirty 
miles, an extreme breadth of thirteen miles, and a coast 

376 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

line of eighty miles. Its longer axis lies east and west, 
in which direction it is traversed by a mountain chain. 
The inhabitants of the island at the time of our visit 
numbered about eighty thousand, the number of females 
being a little in excess of the males. 

Funchal, the capital, lies on the south coast of 
Madeira, about 360 miles from the coast of Africa, 
535 miles from Lisbon and 1,215 miles from Plymouth. 
It has a population of 18,000 and the immediate neigh- 
borhood was inhabited by about as many more. 

The town is seen to great advantage from the bay, 
lying on its curving shore, and backed by an amphi- 
theater of lofty mountains, some of them 4,000 feet in 
height. Numerous country homes with terraced gar- 
dens, and surrounded by vineyards, adorn the slopes, 
and give an air of cheerfulness to the landscape. 

The remarkable mildness both in summer and winter 
of the climate of Madeira, though it lies only 10° north 
of the Tropic of Cancer, is said to be owing to its being 
surounded by a great ocean, from which the atmosphere 
obtains a large amount of watery vapor. The thermom- 
eter has never been known to fall as low as 46° at 
Funchal, hence frost and snow are there wholly un- 
known. However, there is an occasional fall of snow 
in the mountains above the altitude of 2,000 feet. 
Thunder-storms are rare and scarcely ever violent. 

Madeira has long had a high reputation as a sanitary 
resort for persons suffering from diseases of the chest. 
Sir James Clark, in his work on Climate, says: "When 
we take into consideration the mildness of the winter 
and the coolness of the summer, together with the re- 

377 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

markable equality of the temperature during the day 
and night, as well as throughout the year, we may 
safely conclude that the climate of Madeira is the finest 
in the Northern hemisphere." It has also been sug- 
gested that the island possesses one great advantage 
over most other places frequented by invalids in afford- 
ing cool and comfortable summer quarters on the hills, 
so that they have no need to make a long journey for 
the purpose of escaping from the heat. 

Eor one who is no longer engaged in the activities 
of life, and who possesses in a fair degree the gift of 
meditation, and who can, in large measure, live happily 
with himself and his memories — and to whom the 
breath of popular applause is not essential to happiness, 
I have always regarded Madeira as an ideal place of 
abode. 

As illustrative of the severity of naval discipline I 
wish to note this incident. When -^e came to anchor 
and were shortening sail in Funchal a sailor on the main 
royal yard, in furling, got astride the yard instead of 
standing on the foot-ropes. Lieutenant (afterwards 
Admiral) Wyman had charge of the deck and he sang 
out to the man through his trumpet: "Lay down from 
aloft, you infernal soldier." I was informed that he 
was placed in double irons. The warships of other 
nations were lying at anchor in the harbor, which of 
•course aggravated the offense. 

We remained in Funchal about eight days. Very 
soon after leaving there, in about 30° north latitude, 
we struck the trade winds, those most valuable assets 
of the navigator. These are steady winds which blow 

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AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

from the same quarter tlirougliout the year. Their 
general direction is from northeast to southwest on the 
north side of the equator, and from southeast to north- 
west on the south side of the equator.*^ 

Our return voj-age from Funchal was most delight- 
ful; the scenes and incidents have never faded from m}' 
memory — the steady trade winds — the soft and be- 
witching climate of the tropics — the beautiful moon- 
light nights — the sailors on deck singing in concert 
"We are homeward bound" — to my mind form a pic- 
ture of perfect serenity and peace. 

We arrived at Hampton Eoads about September 20, 
coincident with the arrival of the equinoctial storm. 
When we reached Annapolis we found there the new 
fourth class just admitted. It is with much interest 
and curiosity that the older classes observe and measure 
the new arrivals. They come from the four quarters 
of the country, each one bringing with him the man- 
ners, thoughts and provincialisms, idiosyncrasies, the 
tone of voice and accent, peculiar to the community in 
which he was born and bred. Their ages range from 
16 to 20. We see Maine and Louisiana, California and 
Virginia, in close juxtaposition. To the older classes 
some of the new students are transparent, some trans- 
lucent, some opaque. Eude customs and manners and 
rough jokes are soon to be obliterated by attrition and 
association with the older cadets; but during the three 
years I was at the institution I do not remember a single 

"Trade winds are so called because they are of great 
advantage to navigators and hence to trade. They are 
principally limited to two belts in the tropical regions, one 
on each side of the equator, 

379 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

instance of hazing. Such words as "fool/' "liar," etc., 
uttered in jest, are soon eliminated from their vocabu- 
laries. They cease using the phrase, "come on, bo^^s/' 
and in lieu thereof say "come on, fellows." In short, 
they become, in outward aspect at least, gentlemen in 
deportment and manners. 

On the tenth of October, less than a month after our 
return to the academy, the first guns of the war between 
the states were fired by John Brown and his associates 
in their raid upon Harper's Ferry. We were young and 
did not then fully appreciate the awful significance of 
this event. 

Our three months' leave of absence began in the fol- 
lowing June (1860). In due time the Baltimore tailors 
came to Annapolis to take our measures for clothes to be 
worn while on leave. The uniforms which they made for 
us were pronounced the perfection of tailoring — and uni- 
forms at that time were exceedingly rare, and hence 
more highly appreciated. We considered the question 
of dress one of primary importance; we have long since 
learned, however, that clothes do not make the man. 
But it must be admitted that a stranger of either sex 
is, as a rule, judged by his or her attire, however un- 
just this may be. 

It has been said by the highest masculine authority 
that the love of becoming ornament in woman is not to 
be regarded in the light of vanity, but that it is an 
instinct which she has received from nature to give 
effect to those charms that are her defense, and that 
the choice and arangement of dress is calculated to 
bestow an ineffable grace over beauty. AVith man the 

380 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

case is wholly different; but upon our return to the 
academy in September, it was the consensus of opinion 
that we were in some degree indebted to the exquisite 
skill of the Baltimore tailor for the cordiality of the re- 
ception given us by the young ladies whom it was our 
good fortune to meet while on leave. 

Late in 1860, and during the early period of 1861, 
the most intense excitement prevailed among the cadets 
on account of the increasing hostility between the 
North and South. The great newspapers, such as the 
New York Tribune and the New York Herald, were 
carefully scanned each day for new developments, and 
the editorials were provocative of much discussion but 
of little or no acrimony. The almost universal expres- 
sion was that the Southern states had a constitutional 
right to secede, and the wrong of coercion was by every 
one reprobated. For example, my classmate and per- 
sonal friend, Giles F. Appleton, of Vermont, proverbial 
for his geniality and conservatism, would become thor- 
oughly aroused with indignation at the bare suggestion 
of the coercion of the Southern states. 

At the present day all true patriots must accept 
the doctrine that this is an indissoluble union of in- 
destructible states; but the actual conditions at the 
beginning of the war have been misrepresented or con- 
cealed by unscrupulous politicians, and the younger and 
rising generation have thus far been deceived as to the 
real status of affairs at that time. In what I may say 
my purpose is to tell the plain unvarnished truth, not 
being either presently or prospectively a candidate for 
oflQce — and being therefore wholly undeterred by the 

381 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

coquetries of public opinion. If I were out in the dis- 
trict for votes I might, like some of my good friends, 
tell, not what I believed, but what they, the voters, 
would be most delighted to hear. 

The younger generation in the North have been taught 
to believe, by fulminations from the pulpit, the press, 
and the hustings, that immediately preceding the be- 
ginning of the war between the states, the South stood 
alone in the assertion of the doctrine of the right of 
secession and the wrong of coercion — that secession was 
a criminal political heresy exclusively peculiar to the 
Southern states and indigenous to that section. Noth- 
ing could be farther from the truth. Down to the 
very time of the formation of the Confederate govern- 
ment many of the leaders of public opinion in the 
North, of both parties, admitted the right of secession 
and distinctly disclaimed any purpose of coercion. 
Horace Greeley's paper, the New York Tribune — the 
leading organ of the party which triumphed in the 
election of 1860 — said, after the election and before the 
inauguration of Mr. Lincoln: 

"We hold, with Jefferson, to the inalienable right of 
communities to alter or abolish forms of government 
that have become oppressive or injurious; and, if the 
cotton states shall decide that they can do better out of 
the Union than in it, we insist on letting them go in 
peace. The right to secede may be a revolutionary 
right, hut it exists^ nevertheless. We must ever resist 
the asserted right of any state to remain in the union 
and nullify or defy the laws thereof: to witlidraiv from 
the union is quite another matter. And, whenever a 

383 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

considerable section of our union shall deliberately re- 
solve to go outj we shall resist all coercive measures de- 
signed to keep her in. We hope never to live in a 
republic whereof one section is pinned to the residue hy 
hayonets."'^^ 

Again Mr, Greeley says, in his paper, the Xew York 
Tribune: "If the cotton states wish to withdraw from 
the union, they should be allowed to do so; and any 
attempt to compel them to remain, by force, would be 
contrary to the principles of the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence and the fundamental ideas upon which human 
liberty is based. As the Declaration of Independence 
Justified the secession from the British Empire of three 
millions of subjects in 1776, it was not seen why it 
would not justify the secession of five millions of South- 
erners from the Union in 1861/' 

The Albany Argus, about the same time, said in 
language which Mr. Greeley characterizes as "clear and 
temperate :" 

"We sympathize with and justify the South as far 
as this : their rights have been invaded to the extreme 
limit possible within the forms of the constitution ; and, 
beyond this limit, their feelings have been insulted 
and their interests and honor assailed by almost every 
possible form of denunciation and invective; and, if 
we deemed it certain that the real animus of the Re- 
publican party could be carried into the administration 
of the federal government, and become the permanent 
policy of the nation, we should think that all the in- 
stincts of self-preservation and of manhood rightfully 

"New York Tribune of November 9, 1860. 
383 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

impelled them to a resort to revolution and a separa- 
tion from the Union, and we wonld applaud them and 
wish them Godspeed in the adoption of such a remedy." 
Subsequently the same paper said: "If South Carolina 
or any other state, through a convention of her people, 
shall formally separate herself from the Union, probably 
both the present and the next executive will simply let 
her alone and quietly allow all the functions of the 
federal government within her limits to he suspended. 
Any other course would he madness; as it would at 
once enlist all the Southern states in the controversy 
and plunge the whole country into a civil war. * * * 
As a matter of policy and wisdom, therefore, independ- 
ent of the question of right, we should deem resort to 
force most disastrous." 

The N^ew York Herald, a journal which claimed to 
be independent of all party influences, about the same 
period said: "Each state is organized as a complete 
government, holding the purse and wielding the sword, 
possessing the right to break the tie of the confederation 
as a nation might break a treaty, and to repel coercion 
as a nation might repel invasion. * * * Coercion, 
if it were possible, is out of the question." These ar- 
ticles were reproduced, with approval by other journals 
throughout the country. 

On the thirty-first of January, 1861, after six states 
had already seceded, a great meeting was held in the 
city of New York, to consider the perilous condition of 
the country. James S. Thayer, "an old-line Whig," 
made a speech, which was received with great applause. 

384 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

He said, among other things, "We can at least, in an 
authoritative way and a practical manner, arrive at the 
basis of a peaceable separation. (Cheers.) * * * If 
the incoming administration shall attempt to carry out 
the line of policy that has been foreshadowed, we an- 
nounce that, when the hand of black Republicanism 
turns to bloodshed, and seeks from the fragment of the 
constitution to construct a scaffolding for coercion — 
another name for execution — we will reverse the order 
of the French revolution, and save the blood of the 
people by making those who inaugurate a reign of 
terror the first victims of a national guillotine!" (En- 
thusiastic applause.) These views seem to have com- 
manded the cordial approval of the great audience. 

It was at the same meeting that ex-Governor Horatio 
Seymour asked the question whether "successful coer- 
cion by the Xorth is less revolutionary than successful 
secession by the South?" 

The venerable Chancellor Wolworth, respected, be- 
loved and admired by every one, also addressed this 
great metropolitan audience. He was regarded as the 
artizan of our equity laws, and it was said of him that 
he was the Bentham of America, without the bold specu- 
lations and fantastical theories which to a certain extent 
characterized the great British jurist. An eminent law- 
yer, in closing the argument of a case before him, 
among other things, said : "It must be a source of con- 
solation to yourself, as it is of gratification to your 
friends, that the white robe of justice transmitted from 
the illustrious men who have gone before you has not, 

385 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

since it fell upon you, been soiled or rent." It was said 
of the great chancellor that he "wore a conscience as 
well as a gown." Eead what he said : 

"It would be as brutal, in my opinion, to send men 
to butcher our own brothers of the Southern states as 
it would be to massacre them in the Northern states. 
We are told, however, that it is our duty to, and we 
must, enforce the laws. But why — and what laws are 
to be enforced? There were laws that were to be en- 
forced in the time of the American revolution. * « * 
Did Lord Chatham go for enforcing those laws? No, 
he gloried in defense of the liberties of America. He 
made that memorable declaration in the British parlia- 
ment, ^If I were an American citizen instead of being, 
as I am, an Englishman, I never would submit to such 
laws — never, never, never !^ " (Prolonged applause.) 

It is a well-authenticated fact that "Eawle's View of 
the Constitution" was used as a text-book at West Point 
at the time Eobert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis were 
cadets at that institution, and for a long period there- 
after. Mr. Eawle, in his work, clearly laid down the 
doctrine that the Union was dissoluble and that if it 
should be dissolved, allegiance reverted to the states. 
This is the pabulum upon which the government fed 
those who were to command its armies. 

It is well known that the late Senator Turpie, pro- 
verbial for his high scholastic and linguistic attainments, 
was also well versed in constitutional lore. In a pub- 
lished interview he declared, in articulo mortis, that the 
construction of the constitution upon which the South- 
ern states based their action was unquestionably correct. 

386 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

Nearly everywhere the idea of coercion met with the 
unqualified reprobation of the people. While this senti- 
ment generally prevailed throughout the North there 
were many violent men appealing to passion and the 
lust of power, with the view of inciting the multitude 
and preparing Northern opinion to support a war 
against the Southern states in the event of their seces- 
sion. All propositions for peace were contemptuously 
spurned and refused. The generally accepted construc- 
tion of the constitution was a formidable obstacle in 
the path of those who thus sought to precipitate civil 
war — and their violent antipathy to this sacred instru- 
ment induced them finally, through one of their leaders, 
to denounce the constitution as a "covenant with hell." 
But they were fertile in expedients and, with much in- 
genuity, sought to gratify their desire for blood under 
the delusive and ambiguous guise of the "execution of 
the laws" and the "protection of public property." It 
will be remembered that Chancellor AYolworth refers 
to this fact in his address to the great meeting in New 
York. 

During the closing months of his term Mr. Buchanan 
was divested of all power of molding the future policy 
of the government. His irresolution and seeming 
apathy were not the result of his indifference to his 
country, but rather of his love and veneration for its 
constitution. It is true that he was free from sectional 
asperity, but he had studied the constitution and the 
history of its formation and he was convinced that the 
federal government had no rightful power to coerce a 
state. It is but natural that he should become irresolute 

387 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

and apathetic in exercising a power which, as executive, 
he did not possess — in violation of his solemn oath of 
office. 

He had rendered invaluable service to his country as 
statesman and diplomatist. He served many years in 
the lower house of congress and was for a long time in 
the senate as a contemporary of Calhoun, Clay and Web- 
ster. During his diplomatic career he had served as 
envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to St. 
Petersburg. In 1845 he was appointed secretary of 
state under President Polk. In 1853 he accepted from 
President Pierce the appointment of minister to Eng- 
land. It was while there that Lord Palmerston, refer- 
ring to the fact that Mr. Buchanan had one defective 
eye, remarked that he could see as much with one eye 
as most Englishmen could with two. In 1854 he was 
the originator and one of the three members of the 
Ostend conference on the subject of the acquisition of 
Cuba by the United States, and with his colleagues 
issued the celebrated Ostend manifesto which declared 
that on the principle of self-preservation from dangers 
of the gravest kind, an armed intervention of the United- 
States and the capture of the island from the Spaniards 
would be justifiable. Even at this late day, one may 
occasionally hear derogatory remarks about Mr. Buch- 
anan, flippantly made by ignorant or thoughtless per- 
sons who have no knowledge or appreciation of his 
illustrious career. 

Without any change in the attitude of the seceding 
states, it was only a few weeks until the conservative 
and patriotic feeling to which I have referred was swept 

388 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

away. The elements of sectional hatred obtained com- 
plete control and insisted upon an immediate armed in- 
vasion of the South. The suddenness and completeness of 
this change in Xorthern public sentiment was regarded 
as marvelous. An eminent man characterized it as a 
"strange phenomenon," and adds: "To the student of 
human nature, however, it may not seem altogether 
without precedent, when he remembers certain other 
instances on record of mutations in public sentiment 
equally sudden and extraordinary. Ten thousand 
swords that would have leaped from their scabbards — 
as the English statesman thought — to avenge even a 
look of insult to a lovely queen, hung idly in their places 
when she was led to the scaffold in the midst of the 
vilest taunts and execrations. The case that we have 
been considering was, perhaps, only an illustration of 
the general truth tliat, in times of revolutionary excite- 
ment, the higher and better elements are crushed and 
silenced by the lower and baser — not so much on account 
of their greater extent, as of their greater violence.'' 

When I began this detour it did not occur to me that 
it would be so much prolonged; but I have read what 
has been written and decided that to eliminate any part 
of it would defeat my purpose of vindicating the truth 
of history. I now resume my narrative. 

It was during the months of March and April that 
many of the midshipmen appointed from the Southern 
states resigned and returned to their homes with the 
purpose of entering the Conference service. My resig- 
nation was forwarded in March and was promptly ac- 
cepted by the secretary of the navy. Remained at my 

389 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

home a few weeks and then proceeded to Montgomery, 
fortified with a letter of introduction and recommenda- 
tion from Beriah Magoffin, then governor of Kentucky, 
to Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States. 
Presenting my application for appointment as midship- 
man, together with Governor Magoffin's letter, I was 
assured that the matter would receive prompt attention 
and returned to my home in Kentucky. In a week or 
two my appointment was received with orders from the 
secretary of the confederate navy to report for duty to 
Captain Gwathney, commanding the confederate 
steamer, "Jackson," at New Orleans. This was in the 
month of May. I lost no time, but proceeded at on.'je 
to Kew Orleans and reported for duty on board the 
"Jackson." The people of the South were now con- 
vinced that war was inevitable and that their liomes 
would be desolated and their country devastated by the 
invasion of hostile armies. That they would thus be 
furnished with an illustration and verification of the 
truth of the utterance of Lord Bacon when he declared, 
nearly three centuries ago : "It has seldom or never been 
seen that the far Southern people have invaded the 
Northern, but contrariwise." 

No pen can adequately portray the intense excitement 
and enthusiasm of the people. Along the route to New 
Orleans, at almost every station, crowds had assembled, 
ladies usually predominating. The latter were there to 
bid farewell to their sons, husbands, fathers and lovers, 
who were enlisting in what they conceived to be the 
noblest cause — the protection of their homes and fire- 
sides. The immaturity of youth and the tottering of 

390 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

old age were visible in many of those who were march- 
ing on to battle. They conceived that everything worth 
living for was involved in the contest. No conscription 
was necessary — no demands for bounty were made. 
They entered the service without a bounty and left it 
without a pension; and during nearly a half century 
they have contributed, without complaint and without 
repining, a large proportion of the thousands of millions 
of dollars that have been paid in pensions to those who- 
invaded their country with fire and sword. And "Oliver 
still holds up his plate for more." The contributions of 
the South to pensions exceeds by far the enormous in- 
demnity exacted by Germany of France at the close of 
the Franco-German war. 

Captain Gwathney, to whom I reported, was a Vir- 
ginian, having resigned from the federal navy and cast 
his fortunes with the confederacy. He was a man of 
indomitable courage, and his conversation and manners 
were those of an educated and refined gentleman. 

Our duties during the year 1861 were, in part, to 
watch the blockading fleet at the mouth of the Missis- 
sippi and we convoyed General Pillow's army up the 
river to Hickman, Kentucky. Our armament consisted 
of two forty-two pounders, one on the stern and the 
other on the bow of the boat. The federal gunboats, 
Lexington, Conestoga and A. 0. Tyler, were at Cairo, 
a short distance above Hickman. It was not long after 
our occupancy of Hickman till the three boats mentioned 
were observed coming down the river. As we wei'e cast- 
ing off our lines to meet the enemy, one of General 
Pillow's aids rode up on a magnificent charger and with 

391 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

a wave of his hand sang out: "Give them h — 1, boys/' 
and instantly rode away^ feeling, no doubt, that he had 
discharged an important duty. This was early in the 
war, and our engagement with the federal boats was 
greatly enjoyed by an immense audience on shore com- 
posed of Pillow's army and the citizens. The roaring 
of the cannon, the bands playing Dixie and other 
patriotic airs, the cheering of the soldiers and citizens, 
gave the occasion a thrilling and spectacular aspect. We 
received one shot just above the water line, but were 
not disabled. After a sharp encounter, continued for 
some time, the federal boats retired up the river. We 
received various reports that the enemy were seriously 
damaged, but the precise extent of the damage w^e never 
learned. It is probable that the fear of masked batteries 
on shore had something to do with the enemy's retreat. 

Early in 1862 I was ordered to the new gunboat, 
the "Corondolet," on Lake Pontchartrain. Our small 
fleet consisted of three boats — two besides the Corondo- 
let, the latter being the flagship, and all under com- 
mand of Captain Gwathney. 

We learned that it was the purpose of the federals 
to approach the city by way of the river, passing Ports 
Jackson and St. Philip, and also by way of Lake Pont- 
chartrain. Our orders were to sail out into the sound 
to meet the enemy. Between two and three in the 
morning the lights from their boats were plainly visible. 
It was a very dark night. We cleared for action, our 
guns were loaded, run out, and the captains held the 
lock strings in their hands expecting every moment for 
the commodore, who was on the upper deck, to give the 

392 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

command "Fire !" We were steadily approaching the 
enemy and the deep silence that prevailed was impres- 
sive. It became evident that our engagement was to be 
at close quarters with unprotected wooden boats on both 
sides. Captain Brand, the flag captain, called out, 
"Commodore, shall I give the command ^fire T " — no 
answer. Presently he repeated the question but received 
no answer. The third time the inquiry was made the com- 
modore replied : "Eeceive the enemy's fire first, Captain 
Brand." It was but an instant until we saw the flash 
of their guns and then we opened fire with a will. 
During the engagement we heard more than once the 
crash of our upper works but were not disabled. I have 
no means of determining the duration of the fight, but 
it continued until the enemy retired. We discovered 
that our upper works had been riddled but fortunately 
no one was killed. Quite a number were wounded by 
flying splinters. We were confident that we had done 
effective work, but have never seen an official account of 
the enemy's losses. We were feeling very much elated 
over our victory and returned to New Orleans for repairs. 
Soon after our arrival we called a newsboy to bring the 
papers aboard. He did so, and the headlines gave us the 
startling intelligence that the federals had succeeded in 
passing the forts on the river. This, of course, meant 
the fall of the city. 

The Commodore's silence when repeatedly asked if 
the command "fire" should be given is indissolubly asso- 
ciated in my mind with another incident which occurred 
the summer before on the Jackson. It was on a Sunday 
afternoon. Captain Gwathney was reading a newspaper 

393 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

and he read aloud to those of us who were nearby this 
sentence: "Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, was 
born insensible to fear." He commented on the absurd- 
ity of this statement, and declared that no man was in- 
sensible to fear, quoting the lines : 

"The brave man is not lie who has no fear, 
But he whose noble soul its fear subdues." 

I had now attained the age of twenty. Knighthood 
and chivalry were presumed to be obsolete in the nine- 
teenth century. The lover no longer sighed away his 
soul in moonlight serenades under the balcony of the 
empress of his affections, but it was still permissible for 
him to give a mournful farewell glance at his lady love's 
window ; and, as viewed by a young man of twenty, there 
still remained a subtle, mysterious and inexplicable re- 
lation between love and war. It is an age of intense 
susceptibility, and the time when a young man con- 
ceives that a young lady is most impressed by a lover 
whose eye melts in love and kindles in war — and whose 
voice is never sweeter and nobler to her than when 
honor is his theme. This is the romance of war. A 
great Franch novelist has written an exquisite novel en- 
titled "A Woman of Thirty:" a great American writer 
of fiction could select no better subject than "A young 
man of twenty." 

A naval battle between wooden ships, at close quar- 
ters, at three o'clock in the morning, gives to war its 
practical aspect and dispels the fond illusions of youth. 

The federals having succeeded in passing the forts on 
the river, thus assuring their occupancy of the city, 

394 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

we burned our boats and proceeded to a station on the 
Jackson railroad. From there we started to Eichmond 
by a circuitous route via Jackson and Mobile, the only 
one then available. I was ordered to report at Eichmond 
for service on the Merrimac Number 2, which was then 
in process of construction. Shortly after my arrival in 
Richmond I became seriously ill and remained there 
many weeks without any material improvement — my 
illness being attributed to our long sojourn in the 
malarial regions of Louisiana. An older brother made 
arrangements for my removal to a farmhouse near 
Greenville, in East Tennessee. The family occupants 
were the husband and wife and daughter, and to their 
care and assiduous attentions I feel that I am indebted 
for my life. I was advised to resign from the service on 
account of the strong probability that my health was 
permanently impaired, and that I would not again be 
physically able to resume my active duties. I accord- 
ingly forwarded my resignation, which was duly ac- 
cepted. After remaining with this excellent family for 
several months, my health was sufficiently improved to 
justify an attempt to visit my home in Kentucky. I 
did so and in a short time began the study of law. 

In the fall of 1864 I wrote to Judge Frederick Eand, 
of Indianapolis, that on account of the chaotic condi- 
tion of affairs in Kentucky, and being physically unable 
to re-enter the service, I would be glad to continue my 
legal studies, and expressed a desire to enter the office 
of an Indianapolis lawyer or firm of ability and stand- 
ing. He replied, suggesting that I come to Indianapolis 
at once — tliat he had such a place for me as I desired. 

395 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

Upon my arrival, he conducted me to the office of the 
Hon. Martin M. Eay, whom I afterwards learned to be 
one of the ablest members of the Indianapolis bar. Mr. 
Ray and myself soon came to terms. I remained with 
him as a student until he formed a partnership with the 
late Major Jonathan W. Gordon and Judge Walter 
March, of Muncie, and then continued in the office of 
the firm. 

The older citizens of Indianapolis will remember 
Judge Rand. Notwithstanding he was a Democrat the 
Republican Governor Baker appointed him judge of the 
superior court. Judge Rand knew me as a boy in Ken- 
tucky, he having formerly resided and practised in 
Owingsville, Kentucky, my native town. 

Mr. Ray very kindly permitted me to live and board 
with him at his home at the northwest corner of Penn- 
sylvania and St. Clair, now known as the Landers 
property. 

I did not fail to observe on every hand exhibitions of 
the tempestuous passions engendered by the Civil War. 
Having been in the confederate service it was both dis- 
creet and proper that I should remain somewhat in the 
background, and not seek any kind of conspicuity. I 
remained at the office and my home except the occa- 
sional walks taken about the city for exercise. Our 
office was in what was then known as the New and Tal- 
bott building on Pennsylvania street, south of and ad- 
joining the old postoffice. Mr. John C. New informed 
me shortly before his death that this was the first office 
building erected in Indianapolis. 

On one of my walks on the Circle my attention was 
396 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

attracted by a nois}^ crowd of forty or fifty persons; as 
I now remember, it was at the southeast corner of the 
Circle and Meridian, where the Western Union offices 
are now located. I approached nearer and arrived just 
in time to hear the peroration of the speaker who was 
addressing the audience. One sentence shocked me 
greatly. It was this: "D — n Kentuck}^ — she ought to 
be tied to the tail of a mule and kicked to death." Like 
a Swiss mountaineer, I had ever been mad with partial- 
ity to my native state. 

It is an historical fact that the Virginia country 
gentleman, especially during the first half of the last 
centur}^, was proverbial for his love and veneration for 
his state — and his favorite toast was that in which Vir- 
ginia was compared to the mother of the Gracchi. It was 
with like feeling that I regarded my native state of Ken- 
tucky. 

I would have considered the utterance of the speaker 
as the ravings of a madman, had I not made the further 
observation that his audience, with singular unanimity, 
seemed to be in accord with him, as evidenced by their 
rapturous applause at the end of every sentence. What 
could I do? I could only think what General Lee 
so often said when complaints of outrages were made to 
him, ""Wliat a people !" I was thus furnished with mucli 
food for reflection, and it was one of my earliest lessons 
in the truth that, in this world, we must alternately 
chew the cud of sweet and bitter fancies. 

At the suggestion of Mr. Ray I located in Shelby vi lie, 
his former home, and opened an office there. I had been 
there but a short time when two serious charges were 

397 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

preferred against me. A young lady from Cinciniiati, 
visiting relatives in Shelby ville, positively declared that 
I was no less a personage than John Wilkes Booth, the 
assassin of Lincoln — that she had seen Booth several 
times on the stage in her home city and could not bo 
mistaken. The newspapers at that time had given cur- 
rency to various reports that as a matter of fact Booth 
had not been killed, but was then at large. I knew 
that I did not kill the president, but the question that 
troubled me was "What would other people think?" 

The other charge was also one of much gravity. A 
young lady of Shelby ville, whom I then only knew by 
sight, avowed that the luxuriant mustache with which 
I was then blessed, or cursed, was purely artificial — and 
was only kept in place by means of a cunningly devised 
apparatus made of wire. 

As time passed on these malevolent aspersions upon 
my character and standing in the community were 
gradually forgotten. 

On the twentieth of October, 1867, I married Miss 
Mary R. Wilson, a daughter of Elias M. Wilson, of 
Shelby county. It would be both trite and superfluous 
to enumerate her excellencies, as they are so well known 
to all her friends and acquaintances. However, I may 
with perfect propriety refer to her father and mother, 
as they will be remembered only by the older citizens 
of the community. I greatly admired them both for 
their many estimable qualities. 

Mr. Wilson was a native of Loudoun county, Virginia, 
but moved to Central Kentucky v/hen quite a young 
man. He there married Miss Mary B. Cross, of Rich- 

398 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

moncl. They subsequently moved to Shelby county, 
Indiana. He was born in the first decade of the last 
century and died in the month of December, 1886 — 
having lived through the administrations of all our 
presidents since Jefferson down to the first term of 
Grover Cleveland. 

Mr. Wilson had at all times been a close student and 
observer of public men and public measures — being not 
only familiar with current issues and events, but also 
with those that had arisen or were subjects of debate 
during the past history of the country. He could dis- 
cuss with ability, and with equal facility, the tariff, the 
Wilmot Proviso, the Kansas and Nebraska bill, the Mis- 
souri Compromise, the compromise measures of 1850 
and the Ostend Manifesto. Few men, even of those 
in public life, were more admirably equipped for the 
discussion and elucidation of gi'eat public questions. 
He was the intimate friend and associate of Thomas A. 
Hendricks and other public men of his time, and fre- 
quently entertained them at his home. 

Mr. Wilson was one of the most conscientious men I 
ever knew and this principle was extended and applied 
to every relation of life. 

He was for a number of years postmaster at Shelb}^- 
ville, and was elected to the responsible office of county 
treasurer for two consecutive terms. 

He was an interesting and fascinating conversation- 
ist, not only in the presentation of his views on public 
questions, but also in relating reminiscences of his early 
life in Virginia and Kentucky. To young men, espe- 
cially, his conversation was also instructive. 

399 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

Among the many pleasing recollections of my life 
none is more indelibly impressed upon my memory than 
that of my long winter evenings in his society at his 
own home — in front of the big open fireplace where the 
fire crackled and sparkled in apparent sympathy with 
his interesting and fascinating conversation. 

Much levity and jocularity have been indulged in at 
the expense of the mothers-in-law of the nation. My 
mother-in-law was all right. I know of no lady who 
was more universally popular than she. Her gentleness 
and hospitality endeared her to old and young alike. 
She was born in 1819 and died in 1900 at the age of 
81. It has been said that young people are prone 
to ignore those much older than themselves. It was 
not so in the case of Mrs. Wilson. Young people never 
ceased to love and respect her. Her charm of manner 
and conversation made a lasting impression upon all 
who were so fortunate as to be in her society. 

I opened my office and, like many other young law- 
yers, had ample leisure for study and meditation. But 
it was not long until I decided to write and publish a 
work on the "Law of Sheriff in Indiana." The book 
made its appearance in June, 1870, having been printed 
by The State Sentinel Printing Establishment. I sold 
the entire edition of one thousand volumes to Merrill & 
Field. The purpose of the work was twofold : to furnish 
the members of the bar with a convenient and useful 
book of reference, and the executive officer of the court 
with a safe guide in the discharge of his official duties. 
The book was favorably received and its accuracy 
vouched for by leading members of the profession; 

400 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

among them were Thomas A. Hendricks, Martin M. 
Eay and Judge Perkins, of the Supreme Court. In- 
directly, I derived much benefit from its publication, 
it having been the means of my receiving important 
legal business. In the meantime, I was nominated by 
the democrats for city clerk. Though the county was 
a Gibraltar of democracy, the city was decidedly Repub- 
lican, and no democrat had been elected to a city office 
for many years. Fortunately, I was elected, but it was 
by only the meager majority of seven — and the remain- 
der of our ticket was defeated. Passing along the street 
about dark the next evening after the election I over- 
heard Robert Badger, a stanch republican, in conversa- 
tion with a number of friends, declare: "Joe Martz 
and I had decided to vote for young Daugherty for city 
clerk, but we were told the day before the election that 
he had been a d — d rebel and so we voted against him." 

I recite these trivial happenings as indicating the 
spirit and temper of the times. If the fact mentioned 
by Badger had been universally known in the com- 
munity I would have been defeated — which is corrob- 
orative of the view sometimes expressed that it is not 
always conducive to the interest of a candidate to be too 
well known. 

My term as clerk expired at the end of two years. 
The salary was only a few hundred dollars, but it was 
a great boon to me as it served to replenish an exhausted 
exchequer. Soon after the expiration of my term as 
clerk the republican city council elected me city attorney 
— the emoluments of this office were about double those 
of clerk. My Republican competitor before the council 

401 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

was a young law3^er of about my own age, of excellent 
family, and a nephew of one of Indiana's most distin- 
guished governors. He afterwards abandoned the law 
and became a manufacturer, in which business he ac- 
cumulated five hundred thousand dollars. 

While holding these two offices I was industriously 
at work making an abstract of the titles to the real 
estate in Shelby county. If not the very first, it was one 
of the first, compilations of this kind ever made in 
Indiana. I did this work under many discouragements. 
The older lawyers whom I consulted declared that it 
was impracticable, and the recorder serving his second 
term assured me that I would not be able to complete the 
work if I lived to be as old as Methuselah. The books 
were completed in about four years, and, in a pecuniary 
sense, were a bonanza to me. My business increased so 
rapidly that I was compelled to resign as city attorney. 
Taking the cue from my abstract books, like compila- 
tions were soon made in the counties of Rush, Decatur, 
Johnson, Hancock, Clinton and Wabash. Warren Big- 
ler, formerly auditor of state, was in my office in Shelby- 
ville for six months and went to Wabash, where he made 
a set of books for that county. 

The importance of this system in facilitating business 
and in the avoidance of litigation can be fully appre- 
ciated only by those who remember the tedious and very 
imperfect examinations of titles made by resorting to 
the records in the various county offices. 

I may add that the abstract books, though no longer 
owned by me, are still intact, and are recognized as 

402 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

authority in respect to the title to real estate in Shelby 
county. 

There were a number of eminent lawyers who then 
practiced in the Shelby courts, but I write only of those 
who have passed away. Thomas A. Hendricks was 
there. I have said in another place, referring to Hen- 
dricks, that he, like Bush, the great Irish lawyer, could 
"hand up a point of law to the court with as much grace 
and pliancy of gesture as if he were presenting a court 
lady with a fan." With a popular audience, he owed 
much of his power to the charm of his personality. 
So magnetic was he, that he could not open his lips 
or lift his hand, without instantly engaging the rapt 
attention of his audience. And it may be said, with 
truth, that the graces of his person extended to his 
mind. In his private intercourse, he was uniformly con- 
siderate, amiable and courteous. To his profound 
knowledge of the law were superadded unexcelled per- 
suasiveness of tongue, and the most consummate tact. 

As illustrative of the latter attribute I will refer to a 
case tried before a jury in the Shelby circuit court in 
which Hendricks represented the plaintiff and Benjamin 
Harrison the defendant. A man by the name of Fitz- 
gerald, who had been ejected from a train on the Van- 
dalia road, sued the railroad company for damages and 
the case was sent to Shelby county on change of venue. 
The general impression was that Fitzgerald had no case, 
but his best witness was a lady who was on the train at 
the time — returning to her home in Kentucky. 

She was high-spirited, and her manner and conver- 
403 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

sation gave evidence of unusual intelligence and refine- 
ment. She related with evident pride and satisfaction 
that her home was in Central Kentucky. General Har- 
rison, with all his skill in cross-examination, failed to 
weaken her testimony, but rather made it stronger. This 
was several years after the close of the war, but the war 
spirit still prevailed in some sections of the country. Har- 
rison, having failed to accomplish his purpose by cross- 
examination, sought in his argument to ridicule the 
lady because she said, with a triumphant air, that she 
was a native of Central Kentucky, which state had 
always been her home. When Hendricks replied, he 
emphasized the fact that no one could determine where 
he should be born, and appealed to the jury to know if 
the lady's nativity should be permitted to affect the 
force of her testimony. "It is a well-known fact," con- 
tinued Hendricks, "that this good county of Shelby 
was largely settled by Kentuckians, and that a large pro- 
portion of its inhabitants to-day are Kentuckians and 
sons of Kentucky mothers. Indeed, I recognize several 
of them on this jur}^," and turning to Harrison, declared 
"that Kentuckians stood shoulder to shoulder with In- 
dianians at the battle of Tippecanoe, under the leader- 
ship of the distinguished ancestor of the gentleman, 
William Henry Harrison — and it ill becomes him to 
speak in disparagement of the lady on account of her 
being a native of Kentucky." The jury was out only 
a very little while and returned a verdict of twenty-five 
hundred dollars for the plaintiff. 

Hendricks and Martin M. Eay were about the same 
age and began the practice in Shelbyville about the 

404 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

same time — in the early forties. In important cases 
they were usually on opposite sides. Eay, unlike Hen- 
dricks, had no fondness for public life, but was content 
with his high standing in the profession. His mental 
grasp of legal questions was great, and he was fully 
equal to Hendricks in legal acumen and wealth of vo- 
cabulary. He was without a rival in his inimitable 
humor and his ability to laugh a case out of court. 
When the occasion demanded, he was bold, defiant, and 
fearless. I heard him defend a man charged with kill- 
ing his wife with an ax, the defense being insanity. 
When Eay made his speech to the jury the courtroom 
was crowded almost to suffocation. He faced an audi- 
ence whose manner and conduct indicated that they were 
ready to seize both Ray and his client and massacre them 
on the spot. He turned upon that hostile audience and, 
in defiant tones, declared that there was no power on 
earth that could deter him from discharging his duty to 
his client. 

It was an intellectual treat to the younger members 
of the bar to hear Ray and Hendricks argue important 
legal questions. If those arguments had been preserved, 
in book form, no more important or valuable addition 
could be made to a law library. It is to be greatly de- 
plored that the ability and learning and eloquence of 
great lawyers are oftentimes lost to history and memory 
for want of needful recordation. Tacitus appreciated 
this great loss when he said of the eloquent Haterius: 
''^Whilst the plodding industry of scribblers goes down 
to posterity, the sweet voice and fluent eloquence of 
Haterius died with himself." 
^ 405 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

I early learned to have great respect and admiration 
for Judge Stephen Major, of the Shelby ville bar. He 
was my personal friend. 

Judge Major had an imposing- personality — was very 
tall and well proportioned and quick and graceful in 
his movements. He was dignified and courteous and of 
a kindly disposition but, when the occasion demanded, 
he could be austere. He was my ideal of a cultivated 
Irish gentleman. His presence always suggested to me 
the "Hall of the Four Courts/' Dublin, so renowned 
for the galaxy of able and brilliant lawyers assembled 
there, and of whom I had read so much. 

Judge Major was a man with a conscience, and would 
frown upon any action or conduct that savored of in- 
sincerity or duplicity. 

He loved his family. In conversation he would speak 
of "My Charlie," referring to his son, the well-known 
author, who was then a mere lad. 

Long before the Civil War he was on the bench, be- 
ing judge of the circuit courts of Marion and Shelby 
counties. I have been informed that many cases of 
national interest and importance were tried before him, 
some of them arising under the fugitive slave law. 

Judge Major was not a criminal lawyer, but in civil 
causes his profound legal knowledge and his long experi- 
ence on the bench and at the bar rendered his services 
of inestimable value to his clients. 

He remarked to me on one occasion that legal erudi- 
tion was not essential to the success of a criminal lawyer 
— that, so far as legal knowledge was concerned, all 
that was necessary was the learning of a few general 

406 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

principles and the memorizing of a few statutory defini- 
tions. 

He was fond of a joke with his intimate personal 
friends. I was then quite 3^oung myself. Knowing my 
loyalty to Kentuck}', my native state, he would frequently 
ask me, laughing at the same time, some such question as 
this: "WTiat kind of society have you in Kentucky? 
They seem to kill each other over there on the slightest 
provocation." I finally said to him one day, ^^Do you not 
admire some of her public men, Mr. Clay, for example ?" 
His countenance at once assumed a serious aspect and 
he proceeded to pass a glowing eulogy upon Clay. I 
then reminded him of the great statesman's idolatrous 
love of Kentucky, and that, in one of his great speeches, 
having presumably exhausted the vocabulary of enco- 
mium upon that commonwealth, reached the grand cli- 
max when he solemnly declared, "Yes, my countrymen, 
Kentucky is, indeed, the Ireland of America." This 
seemed to greatly please the judge and he did not again 
refer to the homicidal predilections of my native state. 

Eden H. Davis was another prominent member of 
the Shelbyville bar. He was not an educated man and 
took no delight in letters, but his arguments were forci- 
ble, logical, convincing — but entirely unadorned. If 
the opposing counsel had said in a grandiloquent man- 
ner, "It is written in the large volume of nature," it 
would have been like Mr. Davis to gravely inquire, with 
pen in hand, "At what page?" He gave his entire at- 
tention to the law, refusing to accept the doctrine that 
it is better a man should know somehing of all things 
than all of one thing. It was Davis who succeeded in 

407 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

convicting, by a jury, a respectable citizen, charged with 
burning his own building to obtain the insurance, by 
giving nineteen separate and independent reasons, with 
appropriate amplification, why he was guilty. The de- 
fendant was promptly granted a new trial. Upon the 
second trial Davis did not appear as counsel for the 
prosecution and the defendant was triumphantly ac- 
quitted. 

Benjamin F. Love was at that time an able but unique 
member of the Shelbyville bar. Mr. Love was not over- 
fastidious in his attire and was criticized for being some- 
what slow and tedious in the examination of witnesses; 
but before a jury he was a most formidable antagonist. 
He would seize his subject with the comprehension and 
vigor of a giant. His sallies of wit and sarcasm fre- 
quently convulsed with laughter court, jury and spec- 
tators. 

My own specialty was that branch of the law relating 
to real estate, and cognate branches. My time was fully 
occupied with these and I declined other business. No 
miser ever counted his gold with greater delight than I 
experienced in my efforts to unravel a complicated title. 
During my thirt3^-two and one-half 3^ears in Shelbyville 
I became well acquainted with the people of the city 
and county — learned to appreciate them — and my social 
and business relations with them were most agreeable. 
While I am no longer a citizen of the count}^, we occupy 
our cottage in Shelbyville in the summer, and the first 
intimation of spring suggests to us that it will not be 
long until we will again have the pleasure of greeting 
our old acquaintances and friends. I have grave doubts 

408 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

whether there is any community wliere the sanctity of 
contracts is more highly respected and appreciated, and 
where the habit of punctuality, so important in every 
vocation, more generally prevails. 

During my business career in Shelbyville, many in- 
stances of unselfishness and generosity came under my 
observation. At this moment I have two cases in mind : 
one was a wealthy farmer who loaned a very considerable 
amount of money on real estate mortgage at the current 
rate of interest. He came to my office one day and said : 
"Mr. Daugherty, the times are changing, and I think 
the rate of interest should come down. When they pay 
their interest I wish you to return to them one-fifth 
of the amount." 

The other instance was where a man purchased a sher- 
iff's certificate of sale made under a decree of foreclosure 
of mortgage on a farm. The year expired without the 
land being redeemed and the sheriff executed to the 
holder of the certificate a deed for the land. After be- 
coming the owner it was quite natural that he should go 
to see his farm. The premises were still occupied by the 
debtor. He found the debtor, his wife, and several little 
children in the house, and there were evidences of ex- 
treme poverty. It was but a little while until a pur- 
chaser was found for the land and it was sold. After the 
sale he sent word to the husband and wife to meet him 
at a certain time in Shelbyville. They came. A calcu- 
lation disclosed the fact that the land had been sold for 
seven hundred and fifty dollars in excess of its cost, in- 
cluding interest. He made a check for that amount and 
handed it to the wife. 

409 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

In 1907 I publislied, at my own expense, a small edi- 
tion of the "Young Lawyer and Another Essay" and 
distributed them among my professional and other 
friends as souvenirs. It was written during an inter- 
val of relaxation from business and I derived much 
pleasure from the preparation of the work. I have re- 
ceived many evidences of appreciation of the book^ not 
only from those to whom it was presented, but from 
others in whose hands it had accidentally fallen. I 
received, on the same day, two commendatory letters, 
one from a Methodist minister in Texas and another 
from a Catholic clergyman in Montreal, inquiring where 
copies of the book could be obtained. I regretted my 
inability to accommodate them, the small edition having 
been exhausted. I have been frequently urged, both 
orally and in writing, to place the book upon the market 
and thus give it a wider circulation. I have not done so. 

We live in a capitalistic age. Wealth is taken as the 
almost universal standard, and, in some degree, is re- 
garded as the measure of public capacity. I am a man 
of my time; I love money; but have long since been 
convinced that when commerciality is the sole or prin- 
cipal incentive to authorship, the production is marred, 
especially when viewed from an aesthetic or purely 
literary standpoint. 

While on a visit to Kentucky in May, 1878, my 
mother placed in my custody an antiquated instrument 
of writing, purporting to be the last will and testament 
of James Keemer, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. It bears 
date March 28, 1784. It is a unique document — writ- 

410 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

ten on one piece of paper four feet long, discolored by 
age, and a little tattered and torn. I still have it in 
my possession and, considering its antiquity, it is in 
an excellent state of preservation. It was evidently 
copied from the record very soon after the death of the 
testator. My great-grandmother, Mrs. Lydia Davis, was 
one of the beneficiaries under the will. When my 
mother handed me the document I made the following 
indorsement thereon in writing: 

^'This old will was given to me by my mother in May, 
1878. The testator, James Keemer, was my grand- 
mother's grandfather. 

My mother's name is Louisa Daugherty. 

My grandmother's name was Mary McGowen. 

My great-grandmother's name was Lydia Davis, one 
of the devisees named in the will. 

My great-great-grandfather's name was James Keemer 
— James Keemer being the person who made this will. 

May 18, 1878. (Signed) H. H. Daugherty." 

Under the provisions of this ancient document, the 
testator disposed of a vast estate consisting of lands, 
personal property and money. 

That my remote ancestor was in such affluent circum- 
stances is a source of much satisfaction, somewhat modi- 
fied, however, by the reflection that at least one of his 
lineal descendants has been less fortunate. 

The document is interesting on account of its quaint 
phraseology, but it also has an historic value. I shall 
not encumber this chapter with the will in its entirety, 
but will recite only such portions as relate to the testa- 

411 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

or's disposition of his slaves. "Jt will no doubt be quite 
a revelation to some to learn that Pennsylvania was 
formerly a slave state in good standing. 

The introductory paragraph reads as follows: "In 
the name of God, amen, I, James Keemer of Earl Town- 
ship, County of Lancaster, and Commonwealth of Penn- 
sylvania, being weak in body but sound in memory, 
blessed be God, I do this twenty-eighth day of March 
in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and 
eighty-four, make and publish this my Last Will and 
Testament in manner as following, that is to say, first 
I recommend my soul to God that gave it, and my body 
to be decently buried at the discretion of my execu- 
tors/^ * * * 

"I also give to my said wife my negroe girl N"ell 
during her natural life, but if my sister-in-law Ann 
King shall live longer than my wife, said negroe Neil 
is to be her property during her life and then after her 
life to be free from all persons whatsoever, and I do 
also give unto my said wife, her heirs and assigns, my 
negroe boy Bill until he arrives at the age of twenty- 
six years, and then I give him free from all persons 
whatsoever." * * * 

"I also bequeath to my son James Keemer my negroe 
boy named Joe until he is twenty-seven years of age, 
but to stay and work on the home place till April 1785 
— and also my negroe boy named Jack until he is 
twenty-six years old, and then I give them both free 
from all persons whatsoever." * * * 

"I also give and bequeath to my son-in-law John 
White and my daughter Elizabeth White, my negroe 

412 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

woman named Venus until she arrives to the age of 
twenty-six years, and then I give her free from all per- 
sons whatsoever. Venus is not to go till April 
1785." * * * 

"I also give and bequeath to my grandson James 
White, the son of John White, his heirs and assigns, 
forever, all my island in the river Susquehanna, about 
two hundred acres, be the same more or less, and one 
other tract of land containing about sixty acres, and 
one other tract of land containing about forty-one acres, 
joining on Fidlers' Run — and also my negroe boy named 
George until he arrives to the age of twenty-six years, 
and then I give the said negroe George free from all 
persons whatsoever." * * * 

"I also give and bequeath to my son-in-law John 
Davis and my daughter Lydia his wife (1) my negroe 
woman Eve."*^ * * * 

"I also give and bequeath to my negro man Taff his 
freedom next May cum a year the fifteenth day — and 
the sum of ten pounds to be paid to him at the same 
time by my executors — he the said negroe behaving 
himself as he ought to do in the mean time." 

I have learned during a residence of forty years in 
the North that the opinion generally prevails in that 
section, even among men of intelligence, that African 
slavery was exclusively a Southern institution, and that 
the odium of it belongs entirely to the South. That 
human slavery was a crime and the Southern people 
were alone the criminals. This erroneous belief is 
largely attributable, no doubt, to the monstrous perver- 

« ]y[y great-grandparents. H. H. D. 
413 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

sion of the truth by unscrupulous and frenzied poli- 
ticians. 

A half century having elapsed since the Civil War, 
it is high time that we relegate to the rear those pas- 
sions which it engendered, and which have for so long 
clouded the reason and warped the understanding of 
men. We should now give attention to the cold facts of 
history and determine, if we can, where the odium of 
human slavery in this country belongs. 

It is an historical fact that African servitude among 
us existed in all the original states and that it was recog- 
nized and protected by the federal constitution. It is 
true that subsequently, for "climatic, industrial, and 
economical — not moral or sentimental — ^reasons," it was 
abolished in the Northern, while it continued to exist 
in the Southern states; however, it continued in some 
of the Northern states for fifty years after the adoption 
of the constitution. The foregoing quotation from the 
will of my remote ancestor illustrates the truth of the 
statement. 

In the North the labor of the negro race was found to 
be unsuited to the climate and productions of that sec- 
tion, and therefore unprofitable to the master. Mo- 
rality and sentimentality certainly could not have in- 
duced abolition in these states because some of them at 
this very time were actively engaged in the slave trade; 
procuring cargoes on the coast of Africa, and transport- 
ing them for sale to those parts of the Union where 
their labor was found to be profitable and suited to the 
climate and productions. 

This infamous traffic made slavery possible on this 
414 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

continent; without it, slavery would never have gained 
a foothold in the United States. It was carried on al- 
most exclusively by New England merchants and 
Northern ships. The people of New England seem to 
have regarded it not only as a highly remunerative, but 
also as a laudable and legitimate industry. In illustra- 
tion of this it may be noted that James D. Wolf, one 
of her most prominent citizens, was long and largely 
concerned in the slave trade. He was sent from the state 
of Khode Island to the senate of the United States as 
late as the year 1831. In 1825 he resigned his seat in 
the senate and removed to Havana, where he lived for 
many years, actively engaged in the same pursuit, as 
president of a slave-trading company. The story is 
told of him that on being informed that the "trade" 
was to be declared piracy, he smiled and said, "So much 
the better for us — the Yankees will be the only people 
not scared off by such a declaration." 

The constitution expressly forbade any interference 
by congress with the slave trade — or to use its own 
language, with the "migration or importation of such 
persons" as any of the states should think proper to 
admit — "prior to the year 1808." During the interven- 
ing period of more than twenty years, the matter was 
exclusively under the control of the respective states; 
and it is an historical fact that every Southern state, 
without exception, either had already enacted, or pro- 
ceeded to enact, laws forbidding the importation of 
slaves. Virginia was the first of all the states, North or 
South, to prohibit it, and Georgia was the first to in- 
corporate such a prohibition in her organic constitution. 

415 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

So eager and avaricious were those engaged in this 
nefarious business that in some instances they suc- 
ceeded in evading the state law. "The geographical 
situation of our country," said Mr. Lowndes, of South 
Carolina, in the house of representatives on February 
14, 1804, "is not unknown. With navigable rivers 
running into the heart of it, it is impossible, with our 
means, to prevent our Eastern brethren engaged in 
this trade from introducing the negroes into the country. 
The law has been completely evaded." 

We read that in 1807 congress, "availing itself of the 
very earliest moment at which the constitutional re- 
striction ceased to be operative, passed an act prohibit- 
ing the importation of slaves into any part of the United 
States from and after the first day of January, 1808. 
This act was passed with great unanimity. In the House 
of Representatives there were one hundred and thirteen 
(113) yeas to five (5) nays; and it is a significant fact, 
as showing the absence of any sectional division of senti- 
ment at that period, that the five dissentients were 
divided as equally as possible between the two sections: 
two of them were from Northern and three from South- 
ern states."** 

Abler pens than mine have depicted the horrors of 
that awful trafiic. The cruelties of the Duke of Alva 
in the Low Countries are mild, when compared with the 
atrocities of the slave trade, carried on, as it was, almost 
exclusively by the forefathers of the N"ew England Abo- 
litionists. 

We read that thousands, year after year, were stowed 
** Benton's Abridgment, Vol. Ill, p. 519. 
416 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

together in the hold of a slave ship, without air, with- 
out light, without food, without hope. That the prac- 
tise prevailed of suspending contumacious negroes 
in cages to have their eyes picked out and to be devoured 
alive by birds of prey; and one instance is recorded 
where the cargo of sick slaves were thrown overboard as 
so much live lumber by direction of the captain of the 
ship. 

We have read in the newspapers of the country, and 
heard from the pulpit and the hustings, much in de- 
nunciation of the crime of slavery in the South. Have 
you ever read or heard, from either of these sources, 
even the mildest censure of the infamous slave trade, 
without which the institution of slavery in the South 
would never have existed? Why is this so? 

In this age and generation any form of human servi- 
tude is absolutely indefensible ; but it will not be denied 
that African slavery as it existed in the Southern statas 
was the mildest and most humane of all institutions to 
which the name "slavery" has ever been applied. That 
the sensibilities of the descendants of those who were 
engaged in this unholy and brutal traffic should be un- 
duly shocked by Southern slavery, is, indeed, marvelous, 
and unmistakably indicates a suspension or reversal of 
all the laws of heredity. 

Is it possible that hatred of the Southern white man, 
and a desire for sectional aggrandizement, commingled, 
in some degree, with his love and sj^mpathy for the 
Southern negro? 

I can conceive of no reading more interesting than 
the impartial views of an intelligent and highly culti- 

417 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

vated foreigner, upon our institutions, our people and 
our laws. In 1831, DeTocqueville was sent by his gov- 
ernment to the United States upon a comparatively un- 
important mission. He remained several years, which 
he occupied in gathering material for his great work 
^'Democracy in America." The book appeared in several 
languages and created a profound impression. The 
great political philosopher did not omit to express his 
views upon the subject of slavery based upon his observa- 
tions while here. They are presumably impartial. His 
style of writing has a magic charm : 

"The most formidable of all the ills which threaten 
the future existence of the United States, arises from 
the presence of a black population upon its terri- 
tory. * * * 

"Wlioever has inhabited the United States must have 
perceived that in those parts of the union in which the 
negroes are no longer slaves, they have in no wise drawn 
nearer to the whites. On the contrary, the prejudice 
of the race appears to be stronger in the states which 
have abolished slavery than in those where it still exists ; 
and nowhere is it so intolerant as in those states where 
servitude has never been known. 

"The habits of the people of the South are more tol- 
erant and compassionate to the negro than in the 
North. * * * 

"I do not imagine that the white and the black races 
will ever live in any country upon an equal foot- 

"In every picture of the future there is a dim spot 
418 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

which the eye of the understanding cannot pene- 
trate. * * * 

"When I contemplate the condition of the South, I 
can only discover two alternatives which may be adopted 
by the white inhabitants of those states, viz: either to 
emancipate the negroes, and to intermingle with them; 
or, remaining isolated from them, to keep them in a 
state of slavery as long as possible." 

My father, John C. Daugherty, lived in Owingsville 
all his life. It has been said that a man's character 
will take care of his reputation. In his case no care or 
guardianship of the one for the other was necessary. 
They were both good. His word was equivalent to his 
bond and he was universally respected and esteemed by 
the people amongst whom his lot was cast. He pre- 
ceded my mother to the grave several years and died at 
the age of 69. 

To the mothers of sons in the border states, the ordeal 
of the civil war was exceptionally severe. Kentucky 
was in the United States one day and in the Confed- 
erate States the next — the state being alternately oc- 
cupied by the opposing armies. They were of course 
deeply concerned for their sons who were in the service 
and, in addition, were subjected not only to many in- 
conveniences, but oftentimes to indignities and insults. 
The utmost chaos and confusion prevailed. People in 
affluent circumstances were reduced to poverty, and, in 
many instances, the poor suffered for the necessaries 
of life. Xo adequate description can be given of the 
conditions which then prevailed. Throughout all these 

419 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

trials and tribulations my mother, who was a delicate 
woman with a large family, exhibited the utmost pa- 
tience and fortitude. I know something of human char- 
acter and have a profound admiration for hers. My 
last conversation with her was on the eve of going away. 
When I talked with her at the bedside she looked so frail 
and emaciated that one would not have been surprised 
if the moonlight of death should pass over her counte- 
nance at any moment — but she was brave to the last, and 
a smile of resignation illumined her face. My love and 
veneration for her are so great that I am oftentimes 
seized with an almost irresistible impulse to lift my hat 
to any aged lady that I chance to meet, stranger though 
she be. 

An eminent Englishman who contemplated a visit 
to America asked Cobden, the British statesman, if it 
would be worth while to visit Niagara. Cobden replied : 
"Do so by all means ; there are two sublimities in nature ; 
one of rest and the other of motion; the sublimity in 
rest are the distant sunset Alps, the sublimity in motion 
is IN'iagara." But how completely do all other sublim- 
ities pale into insignificance when compared with the 
sublimity of death! 

In the last week of September, 1911, the people of 
Owingsville and Bath county celebrated the Centennial 
Anniversary of the town and county. Mrs. Daugherty 
and myself received a hearty invitation to be present. We 
went, and met with a most cordial reception and 
were delightfully entertained. On account of the vicis- 
situdes of life and business, I had been separated from 
my numerous relatives there for many years. A new 

420 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY 

generation had grown up — nephews and nieces without 
number — the nephews intelligent and handsome young 
fellows to whom life seemed full of promise — the nieces, 
charming on account of their youth and beauty and strik- 
ing femininity. I was never more thoroughly impressed 
with the truth that nothing tends more to the rejuve- 
nescence of one who has passed the meridian of life 
than the fascinations of youth and beauty. 

Many natives and former residents of the town and 
county were there from a distance. The venerable 
widow of Henry S. Lane, of Crawfordsville, Indiana, 
had hoped to be there, and it was fondly expected that 
she would grace and honor the occasion with her pres- 
ence, but at the last moment she found it impossible 
to come. Though eighty-seven years old, it is said 
that she is active and alert, both physically and men- 
tally. It will be remembered that her distinguished 
husband had, in early life, removed to Indiana, and 
that he became one of the founders of the Republican 
party, having presided over the first national convention 
of that party, fifty-six years ago, when John C. Fremont 
was nominated for the presidency. 

Our visit, however, was not without its melancholy 
aspect. The friends and associates of my youth and 
young manhood were nearly all gone. Our favorite 
haunts remained, but the actors were no more. I visited 
the beautiful cemetery situated in the environs of the 
town, where many of them were buried. I could only 
read the inscriptions on their tombs! I was forcibly 
reminded of Webster^s account of the visit to his birth- 
place which he made near the close of his life : 

421 



AUTOBIOGEAPHY 

"The villagers are gone ; an unknown generation walk 
under our elms. Unknown faces meet and pass me in 
my own paternal acres. I recognize nothing but the 
tombs ! I have no acquaintance remaining but the 
dead/^ 



422 



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